Simple as it Should Be
by Seyyed
Summary: Reed’s niece, Danica, comes along to space with her uncle and everyone else. She’s known Johnny Storm for years, neither of them ever really being friends. Is it a recipe for disaster or happily ever after? Mostly movie canon. Future Johnny/OFC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Marvel or any of its ideas/characters.

Summary: Reed's niece, Danica, has lived with him since she was nine. What happens when she comes along to space with her uncle and everyone else? She's known Johnny Storm for years, neither of them ever really being friends, and now they have been forced back into contact with one another. Is it a recipe for disaster? Future Johnny/OC

**AN:: Just so we're clear, this story has been rewritten and reposted, brought over from another account. So if it sounds a lot like something else you've read here it's because you did - I wrote "The Difference" via an old account where I went as Miskit. This story began as "The Difference" and has now evolved into this. **

Past in Present

_Chapter One_

Danica Richards hated fairy tales. Or, perhaps it wasn't the tale itself that she hated… it was more the beginning she hated: 'Once upon a time'. She hated 'Once upon a time'; to her all it translated to was, 'get ready to hear some major bullshit'. So, as one could imagine, Danica also hated classic Disney movies. She especially hated 'Beauty and the Beast'. The damn movie opens with 'Once upon a time in a far away land there was a castle, blah, blah, blah, rude prince, uptight enchantress, pretty poor girl with a crazy father… something about a rose and talking pots'. It was a flawed system, giving kids unrealistic expectations about life… and hair.

Have you seen the hair on the chicks in Disney movies? It defies all laws of physics, not to mention gravity. And has anyone else noticed how the characters' hair colors are exclusively made up of primary colors? Like Ariel… now there was a gal with a real problem; bright, candy apple red hair and a pink dress.

She should have just shot herself in the face with a harpoon.

And then there was Snow White: the freakish whore who lived with seven little men and tromped through the forest with a bunch of woodland creatures. Danica wondered with a vague sense of horror just how many kidlets ran outside in a makeshift gown made from their mother's freshly cleaned towels after watching that movie to lullaby a bunny into being their friend… only to be mauled by a squirrel.

Belle was into bestiality.

Cinderella was a slave.

Alice was a druggie.

Sleeping Beauty practiced self mutilation.

Jasmine was a spoiled bitch. She had a pet tiger for Christ's sake!

And Tinker Bell was the biggest slut of them all!

Danica was convinced that Disney was the devil and 'Once upon a time' was the unforgiveable sin that started it all.

Now, what did children's movies and fairy tales have to do with anything? At the moment? Nothing. Nothing at all, actually. She just really hated Disney… except for The Lion King.

Hakuna Matata really was a wonderful phrase.

A feather soft curl lifted the edges of Danica's pale lips as she began to hum the upbeat, catchy tune. She was sitting in an armchair, legs dangling off one side over the armrest and lanky body curled up around a book she had balanced in her lap. One of her feet began to bounce while she hummed, jolting her book now and then, but she wasn't really paying much attention to the thing so it was no big deal. She was mostly just staring blankly at the pages, flipping them when the time was right, in an attempt to keep all attention off of her while her uncle and Ben finished stowing their belongs away in their provided space cubbies.

"Hakuna Matata?" The laugh in Reed Richard's voice forced Danica to look up from the pages of her book to her uncle's face, "Since when do Disney sing-alongs have anything to do with cosmic energy clouds?"

"Nothing, most likely." Danica shot at him around a smirk, "But you're the rocket scientist, you figure it out."

The man sighed, shaking his head at the young woman, "…Always so sweet to your uncle, aren't you, Dani?"

"I do what I can," she chuckled and turned the page in her book. Her brow furrowed over hazel eyes as she focused on a sentence on the page, attempting to figure out just what it was she was pretending to be reading. It was a vain attempt; she had no idea what was going on.

"What are you reading?"

She felt the smirk on her lips widen, brow twitching, "Oh, you know… stuff."

"Stuff?" Reed arched a brow, "What kind of stuff?"

She chuckled this time, closing the book and setting it aside without a care. She'd been caught and she knew it and it was rather funny. "Evolution, cosmic clouds… you know, the usual."

"Right," Reed sighed again, playing at exasperated. "Remind me again why I had to argue with Victor for days to get you onboard this station?"

Danica shrugged, scratching her fingers through her short dark-brown hair, "Because if you leave me alone I might play in the lab, set a huge electrical fire in the Baxter Building and burn down the entire city?" She grinned cheekily at the look he gave her, "Or maybe just because I'm your favorite niece and you love me oh so much."

"Dani…" Reed laughed, "you're my only niece."

"Exactly," She pointed out to him. "How many people can say their uncle is a rocket scientist? Uh, me and maybe three other people in the entire world, that's who. And honestly, what kind of uncle would you be to take off to space and leave me on earth all by my lonesome?"

Reed and Ben shared a look, both grinning while Danica talked.

"A crappy uncle, that's what." She nodded, hand gesturing about with a flourish, "Going to space is a once in a life time thing. Would you really want me to miss out on such an outstanding experience?" She held up a finger, "Plus! I grew up with you and all your mad-scientist experiments, who better to have your back up here then me?"

Reed pursed his lips, playing along with his niece, and then pointed matter-of-factly at his bald friend. "Ben."

She frowned at the two men, "Sure, of course. But Ben's gonna be out walking amongst the stars-"

"And I'll have the rest of a very capable crew to help with all the work inside," Reed laughed at the aghast look Danica gave him. He turned to Ben with a surprised look on his face, looking far too pleased with himself as his niece fell silent and right out pouted. "Wow… Did I really just out talk Danica Richards? I think I did!"

"Careful, Egg-head," Ben warned with a chuckle. "You know as well as I do that hell hath no fury like Miss Danica Elizabeth Richards..."

Danica crinkled her nose, making a desperately disgusted sound, "Oh please, not the middle name, Ben."

"Elizabeth is a beautiful middle name," Reed argued. "It was your mother's name."

"Well, I wish she would have kept it." She grimaced again, "And for the love of god, please don't call me Danica."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Ben jumped in, "but Danica is in fact your name, sweetheart." He chuckled out loud when her grimace only grew, "Ok, fine… what would you prefer to be called?"

"How about: 'the awesome-tastic, super-amazing Dani'?" She watched Ben and Reed both roll their eyes, scoffing at her, and laughed. "No? Then how about just Dani?"

"Fine, fine..." Ben shook his head.

Ben Grimm was just as much of an uncle to Danica as Reed was; the two men had been best friends for so long and Ben had been around the Baxter Building so often over the years that the broad, bald man was practically family. As far as Danica was concerned Ben was family and always had been. She could even go as far as to say Ben was really more of an older brother, guardian type figure rather than a second uncle. And Debbie, Ben's fiancé, well… Dani wasn't so close to her as she was to Ben, but she liked the woman well enough. Ben loved her with all his heart and she seemed like an alright lady, a little on the high maintenance side, but an all around alright lady. And Ben cared enough to be marrying her, so Dani had accepted her as family as well; a distant member, perhaps, but family nonetheless.

The group fell silent after that, each wearing a grin or hint of a smirk on their lips. Ben returned to rummaging through his duffle bag for a final check up and Reed went back to studying his graphs and notes. Danica looked to the other Richards and couldn't help the softening of her smile and the sigh that filled and compressed her lungs.

Reed… well, it was safe to say that as much as she hated Disney and fairy tales, Danica loved her uncle with the same intensity. He was her entire world. She'd lived with him since she was only nine years old, twelve long and happy years. She'd gone through a whole lot of crap back when she was little, back before a young twenty year old Reed showed up and whisked her away to the Baxter Building after her parents' deaths. Reed had given up a lot concerning his own future when he'd chosen to raise her in his elder brother's stead, and Danica would never forget that sacrifice, that selflessness. Most likely she even owed the man her life and Danica knew she'd never be able to repay the debt she owed him.

"Captain on the bridge!"

The humor in the lounge died down immediately as a male's voice barked out from behind them all. The commanding voice sent Ben straight up on his feet, stiff at attention in the blink of an eye. Danica didn't even bother to turn and look at the entering individual. She'd know that voice anywhere, even after a two year absence from it. The blinding flash of a camera brought Ben out of his hard military stance and Danica watched as his face flushed in anger with each step the blond man entering the room took.

"Digital camera – 254 dollars. Memory stick – 59 dollars. The look on your hard-ass former C.O.'s face when he finds out he's your junior officer… priceless." Johnny Storm gloated his way into the room, dropping his own duffle bag to the floor and settling down on the arm of the chair Danica sat in, nearly right on top of her legs.

Danica scowled at the back of the blond's head, adjusting her legs to put more space between them and the man. She sent a stealthy glance over the other, her own thoughts easily drowning out the majority of the by now familiar baiting and bickering, old junior-senior struggle of a twisted friendship Ben and the blond had.

Oh… Danica remembered Johnny Storm alright. How could she ever forget? The first time she'd ever met him Reed and Sue had been going on their third month together as a couple and Johnny had tagged along with his sister to her sixteenth birthday party. The blond had been nineteen at the time, bouncing from university to university, and had been on summer break the year they'd met. The age difference between them had been more prominent to him then to her; three years wasn't much of an age difference, but as far as Johnny was concerned it might as well have been a 30 year gap. Over the three years Reed and Sue had managed to stick together, she and Johnny had spent a lot of time in each other's company… she wondered how he managed to pull off finishing school considering just how often he was at home rather than on campus.

Danica had been a very skinny, gangly girl when she was younger and up until a few years ago her arms had appeared to be too long for her body and her face too sharp and angular; needless to say, Johnny had resorted to teasing her an awful lot when he wasn't too busy sucking face with his bimbo of the hour girlfriend. But that had been years ago and Reed and Sue had long since broken it off between them, and she hadn't seen Johnny Storm since she was nineteen, not since Reed and Sue had broken up.

She doubted the blond, blue-eyed egomaniac had changed all that much though. He certainly still looked the same as she remembered him being – handsome face, charming smile, trim body and sturdy shoulders. If anything, the only changes she could see were that he was a bit taller than she recalled, but by no means was Johnny a tall man, and his voice was a bit deeper… but they were very slight changes and she could very well just be imagining them. He was, if Danica was honest with herself, a very attractive man and always had been… and in that fact laid his downfall. Johnny knew he was good looking and he flaunted it. He was bold, brash, and in Danica's opinion, far too self gratifying.

And really, Johnny was a good looking man, but he wasn't [_that_]good looking…

Not good looking enough, in Danica's eyes, that she could just over look the ego and maverick attitude. Not to mention the bad blood that flowed between them.

On a scale of one to ten concerning the things she hated, ten being Disney and one being holiday music on the radio, Johnny Storm was about an eight.

"I can handle this ship. I can even handle Mr. Blond Ambition," Ben started, turning from Johnny to the mini closet in the room to tug out a blue spandex flight suit. "But I don't know if I should be flying or doing _Swan Lake_ in these suits."

Danica couldn't help but chuckle, giving Ben a teasing wink. "Sexy, Ben. Blue is definitely your color." Reed gave a chuckle as well.

"Quiet, you." Ben grimaced at her, shaking his head as he inspected the suit. Obviously, the bald man was dreading the moment when actually putting the suit on was required of him.

Danica could have kicked herself for deciding to speak up now as her voice seemed to finally alert Johnny to her presence. He twisted his body at the waist, looking back and down at her with surprised blue eyes; like he hadn't noticed her sitting there on the chair until this exact moment. She blatantly ignored his stare, turning her head away from him with a tense jaw and irritable expression. She could practically hear the wheels in his head turning, struggling to put a name to her face; the way he looked at her proved that he at least recognized her, but was obviously drawing a major blank concerning how he knew her.

Good. Danica could only hope the blond would get distracted and forget to remember who she was. But he was still looking at her with that muddled look of his when Ben spoke again…

"Come on, I mean, who the hell came up with these?"

"Victor did," The group, minus a still pondering Johnny, looking up as Sue Strom walked in. She looked as dazzling as ever and Danica found herself smiling at the blonde woman; she had always liked Sue. Danica had liked her immediately back at the beginning, loved her even; she'd liked Sue more then she had ever liked Ben's Debbie and certainly more than the couple of other women her uncle had ever tried and miserably failed to date. Sue Storm was smart and beautiful, and, unlike the others, she and her uncle had genuinely been in love with one another – despite what either of them might say now. "The synthetics act as a second skin, adapting to your body's individual needs…"

"See, now that means it keeps the hot stuff hot and the cool stuff cool," Johnny added, snapping out of his stupor long enough to toss the comment out at everyone. It was typical Johnny Storm behavior. He even used his hands while he spoke; gesturing about like he knew what he was talking about. Almost condescending – just like Danica remembered.

"Putting high school chemistry to good use, I see." Danica bit out, turning another glance up at the blond still perched on the armrest. Their eyes met and Johnny frowned down at her, head tilting inquisitively and in utter confusion of her. His mouth opened like he meant to say something to her, perhaps ask her just who she was, but Danica's attention was swiftly and willingly stolen away by the sight of her uncle standing up from his seat and approaching Sue.

Danica winced. This wasn't going to end well; she could feel it. As much as she loved her uncle she couldn't deny that he was a bit of a schmuck – extremely inapt when it came to women and relationships.

"Wow. Fantastic," Reed breathed in wonder and Danica watched in dismay as Sue's face lit up like a candle in a dark room. She visibly winced when her witless-wonder of an uncle grabbed the blue suit Ben was holding – what kind of idiot grabs a suit when a girl like Susan Storm is standing, gorgeous and positively glowing, right there in front of him? "Material made from self-regulating, unstable molecules…"

Sue's expression deteriorated into an awkward sense of embarrassment and then into irritation that barely masked the extent of her anger beneath. Everyone but Reed, unfortunately for him, saw it.

"I've been working on a formula for this."

"Smooth move, genius…" Danica muttered under her breath, shaking her head at her uncle's stupidity with a hand braced at her forehead. She sighed heavily and watched as Sue placed a stiff hand on her hip. It was a stance Danica had seen many times before in the past and recognized it easily for the clear sign of anger that it was. It was a stance her uncle had never learned to a take a hint from.

"Great minds think alike," Sue looked pissed. She was the kind of woman who was very good at hiding negative emotions and she was doing an excellent job of keeping it in control now, but it was easy enough to spot by someone who knew where to look for it. And Reed just kept studying the suit in his hands, oblivious to the error of his ways and the tension everyone else in the room could feel and see. "Here, Ben." The blonde woman handed Ben a blue outer jumper, one of three she had carried in with her. She smile fondly at the bald man, affection for him leaking through the irritation and hurt she felt on account of Reed.

"Thanks, sweetie." Ben gave her an apologetic smile, taking the offered jumper.

"Reed." Sue tossed, or rather she right out threw Reed his jumper in no attempt to hide her current animosity towards him. Danica had to fight to hold in her laugh at her bone-headed uncle's expense – the look that had crossed his face had been priceless. She loved the man so much, but the poor old fool just really didn't get it. When Sue came to the chair and handed over the last jumper to her, Danica accepted it with a smile and took the hand the elder woman held out to her. "Come on, Dani. I'll show you where you can change…"

She tossed her legs up and off the armrest, catching Johnny in the back of the head with her heel and offering no form of apology for the mildly hostile attack on the blond man. She stood and left the room, hand in hand with Sue. A deep rooted satisfaction filled her chest as she glimpsed the blond man rubbing at the back of his head with an expression of discomfort.

The room fell into complete silence for a full minute after the two girls left, Ben and Reed both busying themselves with changing before a loud sound of alarm filtered up from the back of Johnny's throat. The two older men looked back at the blond, watching him point at the now empty doorway with wide blue eyes. Ben cracked a smirk at the shock on Johnny's handsome face.

"Did she say Dani? DANI?" Johnny exclaimed, "As in Danica? _That _was little Danica Richards?"

"Yes…" Reed regarded Johnny a little strangely, "That was Danica. What about her?"

Johnny snorted, "_That_ was Danica? Since when?"

"Since when what?"

"Huh, hello…?" Johnny stood, looking utterly flabbergasted by what he had just seen and who he had just recognized. "Since when does Danica Richards look like _that_?"

Reed angled his head, brow furrowed, "….that?" He exchanged a look with Ben, the bald man looking irritated and Reed just confused. The scientist obviously didn't get what Johnny was getting at. "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing! That's the point!" Johnny laughed, "Jesus, Reed, your niece is a FOX!"

"Watch it, playboy." Ben warned the blond before Reed could even manage to get his frowning mouth open, "You touch her and you're dead. Got it?"

"Easy, Papa Bear," Johnny flashed that toothy grin of his at the bald man, arms crossing over his chest. "Besides, who's to say she won't make the first move? I mean, did you not see that playful little love tap of her's?"

Ben's laugh was a rumbling bellow from low in the pit of his stomach, "Love tap?" Ben nudged Reed in the side, laughing still and shaking his head at the blond young man, "You mean just now?"

Johnny nodded, looking smug, and Reed chuckled this time as well. "Johnny… she kicked you in the head."

"Ah, no, that was definitely flirting."

"Flirting…" Ben snorted, "please… she's too smart to be one of your hooker-bimbos."

Johnny ignored Ben and turned instead to Reed, standing and looping his arm around the older man's shoulders, "So, what's the word with Danica anyhow? She attached?"

"Attached?" Reed's smile fell into a deep frown.

"Yeah," Johnny grinned cheekily, "Attached. You know… seeing someone?"

"You stay away from her," Ben thrust a finger in Johnny's face. "Danica's not sleazy enough for that sordid pallet of yours anyway. She's too good for a dog like you!"

"Now, Ben," Johnny feigned hurt, "that's not very nice."

"I don't care." The man snapped, "You just keep your hands to yourself, you hear me?"

"Whatever…" Johnny rolled his eyes. He looked back to the empty door way, lips pursing slightly and eyes narrowing, "Just answer one question for me… When the hell did that happen?"

"When did what happen, Johnny?" Reed sighed, looking rather amused by all of this.

"The Danica I remember was an annoying little gangly kid with long twig arms and a face that looked like a cross between a sailor and a weasel… when'd she get pretty?"

Ben scowled angrily and looked ready to deck the blond if it weren't for Reed speaking up, "Danica has always been pretty, Johnny. She was just young when you met her, awkward even, but she's always been pretty. Saying she wasn't isn't fair."

"No, I mean, she was cute… I guess. But now-"

"Time can change a lot about a person." Reed interrupted, "So can age."

"I'm just saying," Johnny continued, "she went from a 2 to, like, an 8 over night! You should be proud of her, Reed!"

Reed rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the zealous blond. He'd forgotten just how one-tracked Johnny's mind was.

"Keep it up," Ben warned again as he zipped up the front of his jumper over the flight suit with an aggressive tug. "You say one more word about her and I'm gonna over night your face to Taiwan!"

Johnny just laughed out loud.

* * *

Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Marvel or any of its ideas/characters.

Summary: Reed's niece, Danica, has lived with him since she was nine. What happens when she comes along to space with her uncle and everyone else? She's known Johnny Storm for years, neither of them ever really being friends, and now they have been forced back into contact with one another. Is it a recipe for disaster? Future Johnny/OC

_Past in Present_

_Chapter Two_

It was a peculiar feeling, looking out a window and seeing the Earth staring back up at you. From the observation window on the Von Doom station the planet seemed so small and far away – it was a breath taking view, of course, but also a very intimidating one. Danica stared out at the blue and green home they'd just left behind, dark eyes a bit unfocused and face a little on the slack side –marveling at what she was seeing and feeling. It really was an incredible feeling, a big feeling, to be seeing the Earth like this.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She managed not to jump at the voice questioning her from above her left shoulder. Looking up at the reflections in the glass of the window, Danica was more than little surprised to see Victor von Doom standing just behind her, returning her stare in the glass. He was wearing that feral smirk of his, per usual.

Danica had the grace to nod, "Yeah. It is." She focused on the distant planet once more, resigning herself to ignoring the man standing behind her and staring at her through their reflections. She let out a breath of relief when Victor finally stepped away, continuing down the hall with a few short barks of information concerning their flight.

Danica frowned, glancing sidelong at the rich man's retreating back as he carried on down the hall. Creeper…

If looking out at the Earth like this was intimidating then having Victor von Doom looming over you from behind and staring you down through reflections in an observation window was on a whole different level. It was bloody terrifying! Still, Danica reasoned, a stare wasn't nearly as dangerous as floating around space in a giant tin can could ever be. The way she looked at it, if something went wrong way the hell up here then they were all pretty much up shit's creek without a paddle. And their canoe was sinking.

The rest of the group was passing by now and she took to following her uncle as he went, bringing up the rear. She rolled her eyes; Ben and Johnny were still bickering as they walked and she could hear the half-assed digs they took at each other. Some things never changed…

"We can monitor the cloud's approach and observe the tests from here," Sue explained to the group as they all filed in from the hall into the vast, silver-cool control room. The group separated, Sue, Victor and Johnny going about their own business while Reed, Ben, and Danica huddled together to look out over the control room from a platform.

"So…" Danica ventured with a skeptical look around the crisp, blinking room. "This is all state of the art super computers and steal, right? It's safe, right?"

Reed gave his niece a grin, "If a meteor the size of The Taj Mahal were to hit us right now the worse thing that could happen to you is a possible bump on the head."

"Well, that's great and all, but I'm not so concerned about meteors resembling giant mausoleums in India," Danica gave him a look. "I'm more concerned about giant clouds of radioactive cosmic energy ripping me molecule by agonizing molecule as it tears through our giant tin can floating in the middle of the final frontier."

A look passed between Ben and Reed, the bald man arching his brow at the male Richards – obviously, Ben found her question perfectly acceptable in the given situation and wanted to know as well. Reed nodded slowly, appearing rather nonchalant as he answered, "The shields on the station should protect us."

It was Danica and Ben's turn to share a look.

"Should?" The bald man asked for the both of them, a half humored smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. Danica found the smirk odd and misplaced – she didn't find any of this even remotely funny.

"What's the matter, Ben?" Victor sauntered over to the trio, leaning against the railing around the platform directly beside Danica. That irritatingly taunting look was on his smug face again and Danica had to force her face to remain as passive as she could possibly keep it - it felt a lot like he was forcing his way into a private party, uninvited. "Getting paranoid in your old age?"

Reed stepped around the group and wedged himself between Danica and Victor as his niece took it upon herself to shift away as well. Apparently she wasn't the only one that noticed the strange way Victor always seemed to look at her when she was around. He'd done that for years, even when she'd been younger. It had been creepy then and it was still creepy as hell now and her uncle and Ben both had a great dislike for it too.

"Let's just start loading those samples, alright?" Reed spoke over his shoulder to his niece and Ben; he looked at Danica pointedly, "Go give Johnny a hand."

She wanted to protest, but didn't. Dealing with Johnny 'ego-maniac' Storm was better than sticking around with Victor von Doom. She turned to walk obediently away, relieved to find a reprieve from Creepy von Creeper, while her uncle told Ben to start getting his suit ready.

"So, I see you're still doing all the heavy lifting." She heard Victor throw in another comment, the sound of it coming off borderline baiting. The man was obviously trying his best to start something. Danica stopped to look back at the three men, seeing Ben bow up like Victor had just pulled a knife on him. She also watched her uncle hang his head in exasperation as Victor moved on from Ben to him, "Maybe you should have stayed in the lab. Field work never suited you."

Reed had never been much the kind of man to speak up to his own defense when it came to being insulted or belittled by someone else, but Danica was proud he at least had the mind to look annoyed. And his mouth did open as though he would have snapped back had Ben's own quick defensiveness hadn't beaten him to it. He was still too slow at it, but the attempt alone spoke volumes towards improvement and Danica couldn't help the grin on her face for it. Reed was far from being a ballsy man, but at least he wasn't a coward. And really, the lack of fight in him only seemed to show itself when the quarrel concerned himself – if it was about his niece he was quick to jump into protective uncle mode. He didn't play around with his tail between his legs when he felt Danica was being even remotely threatened – as he had shown the moment Victor had slunk his way over to them.

It was Ben's turn to step in between friend and foe, coming to Reed's defense when the scientist wouldn't come to his own. "Hey… He does the talkin'. I do the walkin'. Got it?"

"So take a walk, Ben." Victor said and everyone stared at the man, dumbfounded by his audacity. "Actually," the man announced as he straightened from the railing, "If you'll all excuse me, I need to borrow Susan for a moment."

At the sound of her name, the blonde woman looked up from the panel she had been working at and over to Victor questioningly. Much of Danica's pride evaporated as her uncle relented to Victor's request; Reed took her by the arm to haul her away along with him, leaving Victor and Sue alone. He sure was an idiot for being such a smart guy.

"Dirty Creeper…" Danica spat nastily with a look over her shoulder as she left the control room with her uncle and Ben.

"Danica," Reed gave her a look. "Don't call him that."

"Well he is!" She insisted, "Dirty Creepy von Creeper."

"Let it go, Reed. You know she's in the right," Ben nodded his agreement with Danica. "Victor's an asshole. Always was, and always will be."

"Don't tell her that, Ben," Reed protested.

"I just hope Sue knows what she's getting herself into," Danica huffed, nervous now that the woman and Victor were completely out of sight. She turned a scowl at her uncle, "How could you just leave her alone with Creeper like that?"

"What Sue does is none of our business," Reed told his niece all matter of fact. Danica made to protest, but he held up a finger to her and gave her another of those sternly paternal looks he was getting really good at, "None." He sighed, looking much more tired than he really should have been, "Sue's capable of making her own decisions. If she didn't want to be alone with Victor then she wouldn't be."

Even Reed couldn't keep all the animosity the group felt for Victor out of his voice when he said the other man's name. Danica frowned softly as she watched her uncle break off from the group and wander off on his own – most likely to go fill his head with charts and data and monitor the cloud. Distracting himself. He was clearly upset, but she wondered if he ever knew what he was upset about. But Danica knew. She was sure it was about Sue and she was pretty sure her uncle knew it too. But he'd never admit it. Not even to himself.

It was kind of sad.

"Poor dope," Danica shook her head as she and Ben made their way into the room where the bald man would suit up and exit the station. Johnny was there, as she had expected, picking at keys at a computer and tapping at screens. It was kind of weird watching him work – so, the monkey did actually know a few tricks.

She left Ben to Johnny, letting the blond go about the necessary steps in suiting Ben up for his walk. While this happened, Danica busied herself by prepping the plant samples like Reed had told her to do during the flight up to the station. It wasn't hard work – make sure the cases were closed and secure, make note of any noticeable changes in the plants since she had last seen them on the shuttle. Make sure the things were actually alive and healthy looking. It was easy and she was finished in no time.

"Please tell me your guy's no trying to rekindle things with my sister again," Johnny said a few yards behind Danica while finishing up with Ben and his suit.

Danica scoffed, "As if he would…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Johnny turned his gaze to the girl, fingers blindly securing a strap at Ben's chest.

"Well," She sighed as she lifted the case with the plants and turned to approach the two males, "I don' know if you've noticed, but my uncle isn't exactly the kind to admit to a problem. Or consider himself partially to blame when there is one. Not to mention that it's been two years. Doesn't really look like there's anything but business and a mutual love of science between them now…"

Danica sounded sure while she spoke, but even she doubted her own words. Everyone did, but no one was going to say otherwise. It was easier and safer to just cast those few vague moments of lingering… something… between Reed and Sue as mere imagination.

"Exactly," Ben agreed with her. "It's strictly business."

"Yes, well," Johnny arched a brow, daring to say what everyone else was thinking, "his eyes say differently, don't they?"

"Hey," Ben grabbed Johnny's forearm, voice suddenly all seriousness. Danica had to glance away herself while Ben spoke. "Two hearts got busted last time. Maybe she's not over it either."

"Wow, Dr. Phil, that's deep." Johnny taunted and Danica rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Surprise, surprise: Johnny's still an ass. "Let's think about that…"

Danica and Ben shared a look as Johnny walked off to go punch in a few codes at the computer while he spoke. The look revealed to one another just how little either of them really wanted to hear what Johnny was about to rattle on to them about. Danica just sighed and went about clipping and securing a cable attached to Ben's suit to the glass case of plants, anchoring the samples to the man so they wouldn't just float off into space. She wanted to ignore Johnny, but that voice of his was rather attention grabbing, whether she wanted to believe it or not.

"You've got Victor – more money than God, stud of the year. And you've got Reed -," The blond followed Ben into the airlock chamber for a final check that everything was secure and in working order. Danica watched from just outside the chamber door, "the world's dumbest smart guy, worth less than a postage stamp. Yeah, that's a real toss up."

"Victor's a creep," Danica snapped, scowling at the blond.

"A rich creep." Johnny corrected.

"Oh, so that makes everything ok, does it?" Danica twittered sarcastically, "Silly me. My mistake."

Johnny watched Danica turn away from them sharply, frowning at the rancor in the girl's voice. He looked at Ben, but the bald man was just smirking at him – so far, it looked like Ben was winning concerning their silent bet to whether Danica fancied Johnny or not. Johnny made a face at Ben, shutting the code pad on his wrist with a snap.

"I'm just saying is all," the blond muttered over his shoulder like he was talking to Danica, but not quite pulling it off.

"Well, don't trouble your tiny little mind over it," Ben ground out at the blond, glaring at him once more. And of course, Johnny took the bait, patting Ben on the shoulder and shooting off a few little snarky remarks of his own before stepping out of the chamber to close it all off. Danica found herself back at the chamber door, staring in at the bald man from the other side of the glass.

Danica winced slightly, a hand coming up to rub at her chest. Anxiety had spiked through her so abruptly it had actually stung; her lungs felt tight all of a sudden and she had to shallow past a lump in her throat. She could feel it spreading up from the pit of her stomach and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying the flesh just as Johnny came to stand beside her. From the corner of her eye, Danica saw Johnny give Ben a mock salute and then offered him a surprisingly sincere double thumbs up. The bald man returned the gesture and then set his eyes on her and gave her a small wave.

She had a really bad feeling about this.

Shaking her fear from her mind, Danica grinned and blew Ben a kiss, rolling her eyes when the older man smiled at it. She watched him as he finally turned his back on both her and Johnny, stepping outside the safety of the station once the portal had opened for him. The sudden inexplicable urge to cry hit Danica like a slap in the face and she inhaled sharply to keep from doing just that.

It felt a lot like the tight lunged feeling one gets on a plane during takeoff when every worse case scenario flashes through your mind, rocking and shocking your entire system like a bolt of lightning to the brain. It was kind of hard to breath. It was like when after you takeoff and everything's been fine for an hour and you're blissfully watching SpongeBob on the provided mini screen on the back of the seat in front of you and suddenly the plane hits an air pocket and the entire aircraft nosedives for a brief and horrifying second.

You're sick for the rest of the ride to What's-it-called-ville.

Danica had a feeling she wasn't going to start feeling any better about this whole thing until after Ben was done and safe and back inside the station again. And the itchy feeling of Johnny's eyes on her, staring from the corner of his eye, wasn't helping matters. Great… now she was all alone with the ego-maniac and her anxiety over Ben was already causing a furious headache in her temple.

"You ok?" Johnny had a vaguely concerned brow arched high over his left eye, "You got kinda pale just now…"

"I'm fine."

"You sure?" The blond didn't get a response this time and just watched Danica turn sharply away from him to study the flashing lights and symbols he was sure she couldn't make heads or tails out of on a monitor's screen. "Ok… So..." he hesitated awkwardly, "things been good with you?"

Danica sighed loudly, shoulders slouching in annoyance as she tossed an equally irritated glance over one at the man. "Cut the 'ice breaker' crap, we both know neither of us really care to get reacquainted."

"Oh, but that's just so not true!" Johnny exclaimed, smirking as he leaned back against the glass portal doors.

"Fine," she amended, "_I_ don't really care to get reacquainted."

"Why not?" He frowned at the biting tone in her voice, "We were such great pals back in the day…"

"I hated you." She shot over her shoulder at him, "You were the bane of my existence for three miserable years."

"Hate is a bit harsh, don't you think?"

She turned to face him slowly, tilting her head up and to the side for a moment, thinking deep about it. She made a musing sound in the back of her voice, squinting at the ceiling and then shook her head. "No."

"Ouch…" Johnny chuckled uncertainly under Danica's sharp, critical dark gaze. "Well, I always thought of us as friends."

"You volunteered to take me to the mall with you and then left me there." She accused with a hard, even voice, "You stole my bag and took off with some friends in the car. I had to walk home while you spent my money and sold my phone."

"Now see, that's actually a funny story," Johnny reasoned lamely, "but nobody's gonna laugh if you use that tone to tell it."

She just stared at him, clearly not amused and unhappy with his presence.

Johnny cleared his throat, unsettled by her stare. He scratched at the back of his head, deciding a change of topic was in order. "When'd you cut your hair?"

Danica's brow finally twitched into a frown.

"I remember it being a lot longer before."

"I needed a change." She explained simply, tone still flat with dislike.

"What for?"

"What do you care?"

"Just curious."

She shook her head, muttering to herself as she looked back to the monitor she'd been staring at before. Why couldn't he just mind his own business and stop bothering her? She'd have thought it was pretty obvious she didn't want to talk to him or really even have anything to do with him, so why couldn't he just go away?

The headache in her temple was pulsing angrily.

Johnny was well aware of the tension in the air between them, and honestly it intimidated him; he didn't remember Danica ever being this hostile towards him before. She'd gotten annoyed, been driven to tears on occasion, but she'd never right out hated him or openly showed it before.

"You end up in college anywhere?" He asked despite Danica's frigid demeanor, "What'd you study?"

"If I tell you, will you leave me alone?" She grumbled, glancing over her shoulder to watch him nod. "Music."

"Cool. Doing anything with it?"

"I sing."

"Like, for an actual band or something?"

"I thought you were going to leave me alone," she snapped at him.

Johnny shrugged, smiling smugly, "I lied."

"Surprise, surprise…" her voice was bitter and full of venom. She could feel the frown Johnny was wearing as he stared at the back of her head, but didn't care in the least. She just watched the flashing bits of information and foreign looking symbols on the monitor, distracting herself more so then understanding what they were meant to tell her.

"Does Reed know about you turning out to be a bitch?" He shot back, frowning angrily and now a bit riled himself.

She didn't grace him with a response.

His irritation grew with her lack of attention to him and he pushed off the glass to take a step towards her, "Real mature; you're going to ignore now?" She was still just looking at the monitor and he closed the distance between them to stand directly just behind her left shoulder, "Danica! Would you - !"

He stopped when she suddenly turned her head around to look at him, brow furrowed – not of anger or dislike, but out of clear unease. She pointed to the monitor's screen, "What is this about?"

"What is…? What?" He stumbled over his voice, taken aback by the sudden absence of animosity from her expression and tone of voice.

"This here," she pointed out a series of flashing red symbols followed by an exclamation point pulsing across the top of the screen. The sudden red lighting after nothing but calm green had been a little shocking to her eyes and had made her stomach drop. "Red general means bad, doesn't it?"

Johnny's face mirrored hers as he gestured for her to make room for him in front of the monitor. His fingers clacked away at some keys, blue eyes taking in all the information the monitor spewed back out at him. "What the hell…?"

"What? What's wrong?" Danica demanded anxiously, looking from Johnny to the screen with mounting unease.

The loud clatter of running feet on the steal walkway behind them caught their attention and they both swung their heads around to see Reed running like a bat out of hell towards them. The man's face was pale and drawn up tight in distress, same as theirs; he was panting, out of breath as he came into the observation room with them.

"Reed!" Johnny jumped in immediately, "Reed, the cloud-"

"I know," Reed interrupted, "The cloud is accelerating."

"What?" Danica felt the air in her lungs turn to acid and immediately looked to Johnny for confirmation of her uncle's words. The blond nodded, as breathless as Reed was, scrapping a hand against the top if his head.

Reed hurried over to the glass doors of the exit portal, calling Ben through their comm. devices. Danica and Johnny joined the scientist at the glass observation portal, looking out at Ben as Reed talked to him.

"Ben, you have to get inside. Now." Reed's voice was raw and full of the same kind of dread Danica could feel pooling in her stomach.

"_I ain't finished arranging you flowers, egg-head." _Ben answered, totally unaware of the cloud that was already nearly right on top of him.

"Ben…" Reed sounded as floored by the sight as Danica felt, "turn around."

Danica couldn't even begin to imagine how Ben must have felt when he turned around to see that cloud roaring and rolling in towards him. It was moving in so quickly, swallowing space like a starved beast bent on consuming an entire buffet table. The buffet table being the Von Doom space station. A train barreling towards him at full speed.

"_Guys, I'm not gonna make it…_" Ben told them and the sound of his voice made that spike of fear jam up into her lungs and twist. He sounded so resigned, afraid and convinced that this was the end of him. Danica never thought she'd live to see the day when Benjamin Jacob Grimm gave up, but it was happening now and she felt shell-shocked by it.

"No! Ben, come on!" Danica shouted at the man, slamming the palms of her hands hard against the glass in front of her. She felt her uncle grip her elbow, like he was steadying her, but she could feel his own unease and waning stability when he did. "You got this, Ben! You got this!"

"Ben, you gotta jump!" Johnny followed up on Danica's shout, his brows furrowed tight over distressed blue eyes. "It's the only way!"

The three of them watched Ben take a leap off the platform, pushing off as hard as he could and projecting himself out into the space between the platform and the station portal he had gone out through. Just behind him, a second after his jump, the cloud struck the platform and the metal flared an angry, fiery red. Flames seemed to lick at Ben's feet as he fought his way through space to the station, moving as quickly as he could and only just barely remaining beyond the hungry cloud's reach.

Danica had never felt so helpless in all her life as she watched Ben's struggle.

"Johnny," Reed reached over his niece and nudged at the blond's shoulder, "get ready to close the portal…"

The younger male nodded and turned his sights on Danica, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her away from the portal as he hurried over to a set of monitors once Reed went to town on a panel himself. She came with him relatively easily, mind too preoccupied with thoughts so much more terrible then having Johnny Storm touching her to argue. He didn't let go of her wrist even when they stopped at a panel; he lifted it up almost to eye level and gave it a shake, like he was trying to command her attention fully on him.

"Dani," he explained in a clear, collected tone she never would have thought him capable of, "I need you to operate here for me while I'm working the portal. It's the only way we can get this done fast enough to even stand a chance at protecting Ben from the cloud, understand?"

"Yeah…" she nodded, swallowing thickly, but panicked a little when he let her go and started to turn away. "No, wait!" She grabbed at his arm and pulled him back around to her, "I don't know what I'm doing!"

"It's ok, look," he turned her in to the panel, leaning heavily against her back as he pointed out the necessary commands she needed to go through, speaking just above her temple over her right shoulder. "It's easy; just get through this here and then watch me. When I cue you, you hit this. Alright?"

She nodded and he left her, hurrying across the way to his own panel. She did as she was told as quickly as she could, fingers trembling as the alarms on the station started going off louder then they had before. The cloud was so close she could have sworn she could smell the electric heat of it crackling through the air. She turned to look at Johnny, hand hovering over the switch she had to flip when he cued her, still marveling a little at the way he had directed and commanded her, eased her through what she needed to do – fast and efficient, but clear and understandable. He was keeping his cool under a pressure she thought would surely crush her lungs any minute now.

"Dani," Johnny glanced over at her to be sure she was still with him. There eyes locked for a brief second before he was back to watching Ben shoot across into the chamber, seeing it all happen in slow motion. The second Ben crossed over he slammed his hand into the chamber lockdown button and shouted at Danica to hit the switch.

The doors shut behind Ben, closing him in, but the relief of having him safe inside again never came. They had all watched in horror as the cloud struck the man first, thwacked him hard as the doors closed on it. The cloud washed over the station, lashing out like angry waves of cosmic fire in its wake. Ben had collapsed within the chamber, but going to him now was not an option; the station was shaking, trembling against the force of the cloud and Danica immediately imagined their giant tin can being torn in half and sent hurtling back to Earth in a mass of flames, melted steel and absolute failure. She heard herself give off a yelp of sharp alarm when the station seemed to rock, like it was being flipped around, and she braced herself against the panel Johnny had stationed her at and saw the blond doing nearly the same where he was. Reed was at the glass of the portal, staring in at Ben and Danica thought she could hear someone coming in through the hall, but at that moment the safety shields on the portal gave way and all her mind could settle on was watching the cloud come barreling in over Ben again and seep through the glass to knock her uncle clear off his feet.

She saw the cloud hit Johnny, bend him back and encase him in flames just before she felt it crash into her. All the air in her lungs was knocked clear out of her, replaced with the same white hot flash she saw come off Johnny, it blinded her and she felt her body double over and lurch. Every muscle and joint in her locked up, cracked, felt like it shattered in her skin. Her blood was boiling in her veins, crackling and popping and sending her twisting off her feet. It hurt like nothing she'd ever felt in her entire life, tore her to pieces and put her back together only to pull her apart again; the agony shocked her, sent her mind reeling and closed her throat on any sound she might have made.

She blacked out before she ever hit the floor.

* * *

Please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Marvel or any of its ideas/characters.

Summary: Reed's niece, Danica, has lived with him since she was nine. What happens when she comes along to space with her uncle and everyone else? She's known Johnny Storm for years, neither of them ever really being friends, and now they have been forced back into contact with one another. Is it a recipe for disaster? Future Johnny/OC

::Special Thanks to Reviewers::

Past in Present

_Chapter Three_

The world doesn't sit right when you first wake up after being unconscious and Danica was starting to realize this as she blinked her way back to reality. Things were warped for the first few minutes after opening her eyes, and awareness of herself and her body came back in slow chunks of feeling. It was like when you go numb from cold and then stick your hand down close to the flames of a fire – your fingers tingle and you might be burning yourself a little, but the pins and needles feeling is just so good you can't bring yourself to care too much. Feeling returned to her limbs a lot quicker then proper sight did and her ears and mouth felt like they'd both been stuffed with cotton balls, but things were beginning to clear out the more she tried to focus. She blinked rapidly again and stared up at an oak ceiling above her, heard the consistent 'BEEP-BEEP' of a monitor keeping time with her heart off to her left somewhere.

And with consciousness came the mother of all headaches.

"Sonofabitch…" she muttered around a groan as she closed her eyes again. The lights in the room hurt her sensitive eyes.

"I'll let that one pass because you're hurt," a male voice chuckled to her right. "I take it you aren't feeling so hot?"

"…I feel like I drowned," Danica told her uncle as she turned her head to the side to look up at him. She blinked uncertainly at first, but then focused on the relief at seeing her awake on his face. She nearly missed the part when he reached forward and placed his hand against her forehead, brain clearly still a little rattled. It scared her a little. "What happened?"

"You passed out," he explained slowly for her. Even then it was still a challenge for her to keep up with his words. "You've been out two days and you're suffering a mild concussion."

She nodded slowly. Well, that explained her crappy reaction time and near inability to focus.

"Dani?" The concern in her uncle's voice prompted her to make an answering sound in the back of her throat, brow twitching and head turning towards him more – indicating she was there and listening, even if she didn't open her eyes to him. It took a second to figure out what it was, but she felt him smooth his fingers over her short hair and forehead. "Do you remember what happened?"

She nodded again, but her brow furrowed tight over closed eyes, "Cloud hit. Shook up the station, right?" She heard Reed confirm her words, but didn't stop there. "When it hit… felt like it was trying to tear me apart. Thought I was dying… being burned, electrocuted, and drowned all at once. I don't know."

"You're ok now," Reed assured his niece softly and she nodded slightly, believing him. "You just need to rest a while. Cloud kind of shook everyone up in one way or another."

"You?" She questioned, "Everyone else?"

"I'm ok," Reed nodded. "Ben's still out, but he's healthy. Stable. They expect him to wake up any time now. Sue's still resting, but she's awake and fine too. Johnny, Victor, and I are all up and functioning just fine. Everyone's bruised and a little scrapped here and there, but things look good." He touched at her forehead again and chuckled softy, "Outside of Ben, you might have been the worse off physically. The concussion had some people worried for a little while there."

She smiled at him knowingly, "Some people?"

"Ok, it had me worried," Reed relented. "It's my job to be."

"Well, you're very good at it."

"I'm going to pretend that was a compliment."

"It was supposed to be," she chuckled lightly up at the man.

"Uh-huh, sure it was."

She just smiled at him and rolled her eyes, the movement slow and requiring some usually very unnecessary concentration on her part. "So," she gave him as close to an exasperated sigh as she could manage, "who do I have to murder around here to get some pain killers?"

"They've already got you on several, Dani."

"Oh that's such a lie," she groused. "I'm not talking children's Motrin here. I need a one way, all expense paid trip to Vicodin Land or something."

Reed chuckled again, brushing his fingers over her forehead and the top of her head, coaxing her into closing her eyes and continuing to rest, a level of fatherly affection gushing out of him as he looked over his dozing niece. The depth of his worry for the young woman so clear then and there, relief that she appeared to be on her way to a full and healthy recovery etching deeply into the lines around his tired eyes.

It was another two days before Danica and Sue were both cleared by doctors and allowed to resume normal living habits around the medical facility. The first thing Danica did once she was up and about was slip into Ben's room to visit and check on the comatose man; she'd been surprised to find Johnny already there when she arrived. The blond was perched on a stool near the side of Ben's bed, his arms crossed over his chest and brow furrowed tight over blue eyes like he was trying to figure something out that he just didn't understand. He tore his gaze away from Ben as she entered the room, turning a look over his shoulder and meeting her eyes right on. He hesitated, same as she did, but then a smile tugged at his mouth anyway and he tossed a short, narrow wave at her.

"Back on your feet?" He asked and she had to bite her tongue to keep from rolling her eyes and snapping at him for asking such a stupid, obvious question.

She nodded, coming over to stand to one side of Johnny on the right side of Ben's bed, "Yeah."

"Good."

She looked him over from the corner of her eye, watching him turn his own eyes back to Ben, resuming the thoughtful, steady watch he'd had going on over the older man. She could almost feel the concern that tensed in his broad shoulders and vaguely wondered if he preformed this same vigil over her when she'd been out for the count. A part of her scoffed and doubted it, but… another part of her, a very strange part of her, felt a warmth seep into her chest at the idea of the blond worrying about her well being. It didn't seem at all like the hurtful maverick she'd known before, to sit beside someone's bed and watch and worry over them – it seemed far too mature and genuine to come from Johnny Storm. But here he was…

It brought to mind the way he'd acted up in the station when the cloud hit. Danica could remember the awed feeling she'd felt when Johnny reined her in and preformed like an educated, level headed adult – though she'd been too distracted to fully take in the moment, she still remembered the calm rumble of his voice as he explained commands to her, the way he'd grabbed her wrist and attention, stared her straight in the eye, somehow knew she was going to panic and shot down the hysterics before they'd barely begun to raise their ugly head. He'd given her something to do, to keep her mind at least partially off what was happening and calmed her down. It all still amazed and unsettled her.

"Listen…" she started, hesitating again when he turned his head to look at her. She cleared her throat, "I just wanted to say something… When we were up in the station and the cloud hit… I mean, you were pretty amazing, Johnny."

He frowned at her, head tilting a little to one side.

"You kept cool under pressure," she explained. "It would have been so easy to just panic. Nobody would have blamed you for panicking. But you were so calm, and you knew exactly what you had to do and you did it. It was pretty impressive."

He shrugged, "No big deal."

Danica stood stone still, brow furrowed lightly as she observed the blond. She took in a breath, holding it a short while before letting it out slowly as she spoke, "…you really have changed, haven't you?"

"Time can change a lot about a person," Johnny informed her with an almost airy tone of voice, lips stretched just enough to be considered a smirk. "So can age."

Danica's eyes narrowed on the blond's profile as he turned back to watching Ben. That had sounded suspiciously like something her uncle would say, something she was sure she'd heard her uncle say before at some point over the years she'd been with him. Before she could get out a question, Ben chose that exact moment to open his eyes in a heavy flutter of droopy lids for the first time in what seemed like ages.

"Ben...?" She dropped all thoughts of the blond at her side at the first glimpse of Ben's opening eyes. Her heart jumped into her throat, memories of the horror she'd felt watching him, useless, from the opposite side of observation glass as he collapsed under the force and heat of that terrifyingly beautiful cloud.

"Heeey, rise and shine, Big-Boy," Johnny greeted, grinning as Ben followed his voice and blinked up at him questioningly. "How you feeling?"

"Where am I?" Ben asked, looking around again with a confused scowl laying heavy over drowsy eyes.

"Back on Earth," Johnny announced to the bald man. He threw his hands up as he continued, "We're in quarantine – Victor's medical facility."

Then Ben let his gaze drift, seeing Danica and settling there, "You alright, sweetheart?"

"I'm fine, Ben," Danica assured the other, nodding. "What about you? Everything coming together alright for you?"

"Feel like I was hit by a damn train," Ben shifted on his bed, clearing his dried out throat. "Think I'm good though." He watched her nod before he continued, "What about Reed? Sue?"

"They're-" Danica began, but Johnny but her off.

"Oh, they're fine," the blond's voice took on a slow, dropping tone as he spoke, something very dramatic brushing against the edges. "Everybody else is… fine."

Danica frowned at Johnny's tone. She had the sneaking suspicious something was up.

Ben's hazy eyes immediately cleared as he fixed his gaze on the blond beside him. Something like concern and the beginnings of fear creasing around his mouth and eyes, "…What's wrong with me?"

Danica kept her eyes on Johnny, trying to figure out what the blond was up to as he hesitated, taking a breath as if to steady himself for what he had to say, a tense and troubled expression enveloping his handsome face. It was then that she figured it all out, her own expression dropping into exasperation. Figures. Johnny hadn't really changed at all.

"Johnny-" she began, but he cut her off again.

Lifting a hand to still her words, Johnny turned a rather convincing look on her. "No, Dani… he needs to hear this."

"What?" Ben's voice had lifted an octive, really worry in his eyes and on his face now. "What's wrong with me?"

Johnny patted her shoulder, like he was reassuring her, and Danica just shook her head. To think she had thought for a minute there that maybe the Johnny Storm she'd known before had grown up in the years they'd spent apart. Spoke too soon it seemed, and it annoyed her. Disappointed her even.

"I swear to you, Ben… they've done everything humanly possible," Johnny explained slowly in that same slow tone as he turned back to the other man. "The best plastic surgeons in the world are here. Ben, you had the best."

The heart monitor Ben was hooked up to began to jack-rabbit along with the quickened beat of his heart, the beeping coming faster and louder, the sound bouncing off the walls around them. Ben immediately reached for a small hand-held mirror at his bedside, but Jonny was there first and grabbed it up before Ben could even brush a finger against the handle.

"Give me that mirror."

"Aaah… I don't know if that's a good idea…" Johnny explained slowly to the panicky man, expression twisting slightly. As much as she hated him for it right now, Danica had to admit that the blond was really good at keeping up a charade. "The doctors said the shock alone could-"

"I said give me that [god-damn] mirror!" Ben demanded with a slight boom to his gruff voice and this time Johnny handed the mirror over to him, playing at reluctant and placing his hands on his hips as Ben snatched the mirror away from him.

With Ben distracted, Johnny chanced a look over at Danica and winked, a trouble-making grin on his face that she recognized immediately as the same she'd seen a million times over years ago. She shook her head at him, but he either didn't see her disappointment or chose to ignore it.

"Now, Ben, just… be strong," the blond advised as Ben flexed his fingers around the handle of the mirror.

Slowly, the mirror was lifted, the frenzied beep-beep-beep of the monitor an loud and clear indication of the worry and fear that was gripping the bald man if the expression in his eyes wasn't indication enough. Inch by inch the mirror came up until finally Ben was looking at his own face in the clean, reflective glass. Upon Ben seeing himself, normal and unharmed, Johnny clapped his hands together loudly.

"Unfortunately," the trouble-maker announced as he slowly eased away from the side of the bed and back towards the door. His palms were pressed together as if in prayer and a wide smirk stretched his cunning lips, "the doctors just couldn't do anything to fix your face." He grimaced.

Ben's face curled in a growl and he sat up enough to hurl the mirror at Johnny as the blond cackled and run full out from the room. The mirror just barely missed the younger male, the innocent thing smashing against the wall in a dangerous shower of tiny, glittering pieces of glass that rained down on the tiled floor. Danica heaved a sigh, shaking her head as Ben breathed roughly, heart monitor calling out his rage in short, shrill beeps.

"I guess some things just never change," Danica looked back at the door Johnny had disappeared through. She sighed again, looking down to Ben, "…Sorry Ben. I didn't know he was going to do that."

"I'll just kill him later," Ben groused and Danica chuckled; the monitor beside him had slowed down to a normal, even beat. He nodded his head at her, "You really doin' alright there?"

"No worse for wear," she assured him. "Got a bump on the head, feel a little dizzy now and then, but the doctors have cleared me. They say I'm just fatigued at this point." He nodded and she continued, "But what about you? Are you sure you're ok? You were out longer then anyone else…"

Shifting on his bed, Ben grimaced a bit, but settled once more. "I've felt better, but I'll live. How about your uncle?"

"He's fine too. Doesn't seem like the cloud did anything more then jolt him around a bit, stressed him out a little," she taped her fingers against her temple as she spoke, chuckling a little. "He came back a little grey."

"And Sue?"

"She's up and about too. And the cloud never even reached Victor, so now that you're awake it looks like everyone's gonna be just fine."

"Good," Ben nodded, taking a deep breath and relaxing on his bed.

Danica stayed put beside the man's bed as he closed his eyes. She frowned softly, feeling something throb behind her ribs – a hollow, unsettling ache she had started feeling here and there since she woke up. It didn't exactly hurt, but she didn't like it. It reminded her all too much of the white-hot pain she'd felt on the station. It scared her.

"Hey, Ben…?" She asked, catching the man's attention softly. "You remember when the cloud first hit? …what did it feel like?"

Ben's brow furrowed over in thought, eyes opening to look across the ceiling like the answer was printed across there for him. He shifted again, shaking his head, "…it was heavy. Kinda felt like I'd been thrown against a wall, or a load of bricks got dumped on me."

She nodded, hesitating before continuing. "Do… do you still feel it?" Her voice dropped into something soft then, like she was sharing a secret no one else could hear, something that would mean trouble if spoken too loudly. She pressed her hand against her chest, low, over the hollowed, snapping throb in her, "I can still feel it."

Ben frowned at her, "…you told Reed about it?"

"No," Danica shook her head. "Do you think I should? It's not like I'm hurting or anything I just… I can feel it, in my chest and in my heart." Her brow furrowed, "Have you ever had any of those PopRocks candies before? It kind of feels like that."

The bald man just seemed to study her a short while, shrugging slowly. "It's your call, sweetheart."

"Ok," she nodded. "If it doesn't let up in the next few days I'll tell him. Alright?" Ben nodded and she smiled, dropping her hand to squeeze his tightly for a brief moment, "Get some rest, Ben. I'll let someone know you're up and have them come in to check you out."

As she left, Ben stared after her, frowning at the sudden heavy feeling that washed over his own body.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Is it warm in here to you?" Johnny asked her, pulling his shirt away from his chest at the collar and using it to fan himself. "I mean, is it just me, or did it just get really warm in here?"

Danica glanced up from her notebook at him, shaking her head, "No. Actually, it's a little cool in here."

"No, come on. Someone definitely jacked up the heat in here."

"Well, it doesn't feel like it to me."

"How?"

"What do you mean how? Just because it doesn't, Johnny."

"I don't get how you don't think it's hot in here," his sounded like he was beginning to get irritated and Danica looked up from her writing at him again. He looked a little flushed, brow furrowed over and small beads of sweat beading on his forehead, discomfort clear as day on his face.

"Are you alright?" She ventured carefully, letting her notebook drop to her lap.

"No, I'm not alright!" Johnny snapped at her, "It feels like it's a hundred freaking degrees in here!"

"Ok, ok…" she frowned at him, eyeing him cautiously. "I was just asking. You don't have to bite my head off."

"I'm sorry!" He sounded stressed, "It's just really, really hot in here, ok?"

"Ok." She relented, still studying him with a confused, curious expression. "Why don't you go cool off outside then?"

"Will you come with me?"

Danica blinked, arching a brow at the blond, "What?"

"Come out with me," Johnny repeated as he stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in across from her. "We can rent out a couple snowboards and tear up the mountain or something."

Danica let out a single, disbelieving laugh, "Uuh… no, that's alright. I think I'll pass."

"Come on, please?"

"No," she refused again, picking her notebook and pen back up again. "Besides, I don't snowboard."

"Then you can rent skis."

"I don't want to go play in the snow with you, Johnny."

"Come on, Dani," Johnny tried again. "Aren't you bored sitting around here all day?"

"Mmm…. No." Danica shook her head, "It's only been a week, Johnny. Just sit back and relax a while, enjoy it. As soon as Ben's cleared from this place we all have to go back to the real world and there won't be anytime for relaxing like this anymore."

The blond dropped down to crouch at the side of her chair, looking up at her, still fanning himself in vein. "What if I promised it would be fun?"

"The answer is no, Johnny." She turned a scowl on him, "If you really need to get out then go out. Nobody's stopping you."

Johnny huffed a long, irritable sigh, "Prude."

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Things got quiet once Johnny had left her and, presumably, the facility for the snow covered mountains that surrounded the building. In the hours of his absence, Danica had located her uncle, sat and talked to both him and Sue separately, and hug out around Ben's room for a while. By evening the elders had gone off for some dinner and Danica settled down in a plush armchair in one of the facilities sitting areas with a book Sue had pulled out of her bags and recommended she read. She was only on the third chapter when the set of doors in the room she was in swung open with a loud bang, startling her and making her jump. She turned around in her chair sharply, looking to the door and finding Johnny shuffling up to her in short, hurried steps.

He was naked, she realized a split second later, with a pink snow jacket wrapped precariously low around his hips. To her horror, Danica felt heat rising up into her face as she looked the man over; he was all toned muscle and flat stomach, skin tanned and warm looking. She was once again abruptly reminded of just how attractive Jonathon Storm really was.

"Danica!" The blond exclaimed, overlooking the heat and expression on her face, "My god, you're never going to believe what just happened to me!"

"Uh…" she forced herself to look up at the man's face; for christ's sake this was Johnny! Annoying, rude, immature Johnny. She shouldn't be noticing [anything] about him at all, even if he was a very attractive man. "You successfully whored off your body to the first dumb bimbo you came across…?"

"What?" He frowned at her, waving her words off with a forceful flinging of his arm. "No! What the hell are you-? No, never mind, just come on!" His hand was out and grabbing hers before she even had her mouth open for protest and he dragged her across the room with him and out another set of doors. Sue's book lay open on its pages on the floor in front of the chair, forgotten now.

"Johnny!" Danica shouted, stumbling slightly as the blond dragged her through room after room and into the dining hall where Sue and Reed where still sitting at dinner together. The two of them had rather muddle looks on their faces, head's whirling around as she and Johnny came barreling through the door at them.

"You guys!" The blond exclaimed, finally letting go of Danica's hand, "You are [never] gonna believe what just happened to me…!"

Reed looked from Johnny to Danica, clearly taking in the blond's state and then arched a brow at his niece. The pointed look and rounding of his shoulders sent a clear message and single, humiliating question Danica's way and she felt herself turning bright red all over again.

"Oh no, don't look at me," she exclaimed quickly, using her hands to wave her uncle's silent questions away. "I don't know what the hell he's been doing. I was reading and he came crashing into the room looking like that!"

"What?" Jonny looked at them all in confusion, noticing suddenly the strange way they were all regarding him and glanced down at himself in realization. He didn't seem at all bothered with his state of undress and shrugged, "Oh. Well, I can explain this-"

"Believe me, Johnny," Danica interrupted. "We don't want to know about your sex-capades in he snow."

"No, seriously, just listen for a second," he gestured wildly at her, the look on his face close to frantic. "I was out –out-out on the mountain, right? Snowboarding, right? With this crazy hot nurse named Grace, yeah, and this is hers by the way." He indicated the pink snow jacket around his waist, "She let be borrow it after we got out of the hot spring that we-"

"Johnny," Sue interrupted her brother. "Move on, please. We don't need to hear about Grace and the hot spring…"

"Oh, right. We don't want Dani getting jealous, right?" He threw a smirk at the girl.

"Please," Danica scoffed, shaking her head at the blond. "You aren't as hot as you think you are, Johnny."

"Oooh so you admit that I am hot, then?" He smirked, "Just not as hot as I think I am, but still hot."

"Johnny-" the warning tone in Danica's voice was cut off as the blond silenced her by pushing his finger up against her lips.

"I know you have a lot of pent up feelings you'd like to share with me right now, Dani, but I'm in the middle of a story." He continued to smirk even as she slapped his hand away from her face and glared at him, "Anyway! Picture this… I'm boarding, tearing down the slope, going, god… I don't know. Going pretty damn fast. I'm amazing, alright? So I'm boarding when BAM! All of the sudden I'm on [fire]!"

Johnny had a hand outstretched before them, his face glowing and chest heaving like he'd just shared with them the answer to the meaning of like. When no one responded, Johnny waved his hand around, "No really! On fire! There were flames!"

Danica just shook her head at him, "Jesus, you're such an idiot."

"No, really!"

"Are you high?"

"I'm serious, Dani! I was on [fire]!"

"You were on fire?" Se arched a brow at him, arms crossing over her chest.

"Yes."

"Actual fire?"

"Yes!"

"And… it only managed to burn your cloths off?" Her brow furrowed, eyes narrowing at him and lips pressing together tightly, "You sure you aren't just drunk or something?"

"I'm completely sober, Dani!" He snapped a little at her, frowning deeply, "I don't know how it happened. It just did! I was on fire, real flames and everything, and…!" He held up a finger, looking from Danica over to Sue an Reed, "I think I might have even been flying for a second there."

"Jesus, Johnny, do you hear how ridiculous you sound right now?"

"It's the truth!"

"Johnny-"

Reed stood up from the table then, holding up a palm to quiet the both of them before Danica and Johnny could start bickering all over again. "Settle down… Ok, regardless of whatever happened to Johnny…" the scientist looked over the younger male and shook his head in exasperation of his state of undress, "Something strange is in fact taking place."

"What do you mean?" Danica asked, suddenly feeling that hollow crackling in her chest again. Maybe Reed had a point…

"I mean… well…" the man looked to Sue for help, but the blonde had nothing to help with. She just shrugged and started inspecting her hands critically, as though watchful for something unusual to happen to them. Reed shrugged as well, "Just… strange things." He motioned for them to follow him as he made to leave the dining hall, "Come on, let's just go find Ben. He was felling odd earlier – maybe something's up with him as well."

The group followed him, Sue falling into step beside Reed and Danica coming up close behind them. She listened as the two elders argued back and forth about the possibility of the cloud somehow altering their DNA, but it was hard for Danica to concentrate on what they were saying what with Johnny goofing off behind her the whole way to Ben's room. The blond had started snapping his fingers in rapid succession and just as she was about to lose her temper with him all over again, the blond called for everyone's attention.

"Whoa! Guys! Look…!"

They all turned about to look at the younger Storm sibling, mouths falling open in amazement at what they were seeing. Johnny shuffled up to them, one hand clasping the pink jacket around his waist tightly and the other held up in front of him, thumb glowing as a long wisp of crackling flame shot up from the tip. He snapped his fingers and the flame went out before their eyes. Snapping them again, fingers rubbing against his thumb, producing friction against the skin, and the flame shot back up before them. Danica turned to look at her uncle, seeing him with an identical confounded look on his face. This was impossible…

Johnny put out the flame again and took in a deep breath. "Now picture that… but [everywhere]!" His hand gestured about himself wildly, blue eyes wide and excited as he tried to explain himself to everyone. "It was…[everywhere]!" He shrugged, starting to sound breathless in his excitement, looking to them all in turn and still gesturing wildly about himself. "[What]? What [is] that?"

They all looked to Reed next. The man hesitated and then with a breath, glancing at Sue, he responded slowly, "…the cloud has fundamentally altered our DNA."

Johnny laughed loudly as the rest took a moment to let this information sink in. Danica looked at her uncle, mouth slightly agape -what they were suggesting… it was nothing short of amazing, or crazy, more likely. Reed held his hand up for silence again, his brow furrowed in that way Danica knew so well. She'd seen him wear it a million times before while struggling to understand some complex idea or equation. She wasn't so sure if seeing it now was a good thing or bad…

"Ok, now just hold on a minute," the dark haired scientist said slowly, "let's take a look at this. Sue, you were… by all accounts invisible, right? And Johnny's on fire. And I… well, I stretched in a most unnatural manner." He shook his head, sounding startled and amazed before he looked up to Danica, "Has anything like this been happening to you, Danica?"

She shook her head, brow furrowed over tightly as she looked from her uncle to Sue and back again, " …I…. no."

"No? Nothing at all?" her uncle pressed, "You're sure?"

She hesitated, "…no. Nothing like this." She gestured to Johnny who was still flicking his flame on and off on his thumb. She lifted her hand to her forehead, bracing her fingers there, "I mean… no. I've been feeling a little off since I woke up, kind of strange in my chest and stuff, but I talked to the doctor on call here and he said it was just fatigue. He said it was normal to feel off kilter for a while…"

"Strange in your chest? Strange how?" Reed's brow furrowed over tightly and Danica could feel Sue staring over her too.

"Well… I…" she began, stumbling over herself nervously. She pushed a hand against her chest, feeling the tight swell behind her ribs. "Hollow. Hollow and like… like a buzzing, static like, I guess. I don't know. It feels like when the cloud hit… but not as strong. It doesn't hurt."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Reed asked her and Danica wasn't sure how to interpret his tone.

"It didn't seem important," she shrugged. "It didn't hurt and the doctors all said it was normal to feel strange for a while anyway…"

"You're sure you're alright?" Reed pressed, studying her with a close, critical gaze and watching as she nodded. "Ok." He sighed, thoughts turning inward once again, "So with the exception of Dani, so far as we can tell, the rest of us are showing signs, symptoms even, caused by prolonged exposure to the cloud." He shook his head again, worry creasing deeply in his brow, "We need to find Ben. He might be showing symptoms too."

They carried on down the hall again, an extra push in their steps as the hurried to Ben's room. Danica could hear Johnny snapping his fingers again behind her and even though she tried to ignore it, the sound and burst of heat behind her head was eating away at her patients. She was too worried, for her uncle, for Ben, for herself even to be able to deal with Johnny joking and playing around right now.

"Johnny, cut it out." She snapped over her shoulder at the blond, but was blatantly ignored. Danica spun around on him as Ben's door came into sight, "I said cut it out, Johnny!"

"Oooh, she's getting angry…" the blond taunted her, snapping his fingers again. "Hey, maybe you're like The Hulk or something. Think you'll turn green and ugly if you get mad enough?"

"Shut up, Johnny."

"Maybe you should start practicing that catch phrase of his." He deepened his voice, making it rough and coarse as he could as he started tossing out the 'you won't like me when I'm angry' phrase at her.

"Johnny…!" She smacked his hand out of her face as he lifted it to snap his fingers at her, glaring hotter then his flames at him. "Stop. It."

"Or what?" he smirked at her, taunting still and snapping his fingers in her face.

"I swear to god, Jonathon Storm, stop it right now or I'm going to kill you. Ok? I'll [kill] you!"

"Alright," he shrugged at her.

"Alright?" she fixed a hard, daring look on him.

"Yes."

"…God!"

"God!"

"What's [wrong] with you?"

"What?"

"You're such a child!"

"I'm a child?"

"Yes! You're a child! A big, dumb child!"

"Well you're a bitch!"

"Whore!"

"…whore?"

"Yes. You're a big, dumb, immature WHORE!"

"What the hell?"

"Oh don't even!" They were shouting back and forth at this point, "You washed out of NASA for sneaking two Victoria's Secret model wannabes into a flight simulator and crashing it into a wall!"

"Yeah, well you-!" Johnny began, but Reed interrupted the blow out fight before it could progress.

"Hey!" The dark haired scientist shouted at them from just down the hall where he stood outside Ben's door. "Enough already! Ben's door is locked, now get over here and help us!"

Having never really heard her uncle raise his voice like that before, Danica immediately let the argument with Johnny go and hurried over to Sue and her uncle, looking slightly sheepish about it. A mighty rumbling of a growl filtered in from behind Ben's door and their attention returned to finding a way inside. Sue was trying in vain to figure out the code to the door while Reed gapped at what he was seeing from the window in the door. Finally, after listening to Johnny calling out for help from people that where nowhere to be found around the facility and his suggestion of breaking the glass in the door was turned down, Reed sank down onto his knees in front of the door. They all watched as he lowered his hand to the base of the door and his hand and arm easily slipped through the space between the floor and door. Stretching the limb out, the male Richards managed to unlock the door for them and slide his hand back out to its proper place beside him once more.

"That's gross." Johnny broke the silence that had gathered around them and grimaced at what he had just witnessed. Danica rolled her eyes at him.

Something smashed inside Ben's room and they all charged in. What they saw was more alarming then any kind of symptoms they might have been showing. The far wall of the room was in ruin, a huge hole in the center with crumbling stone and shattered glass littering the floor all around it. Ben had obviously torn a hole through the wall in his hurry to leave the compound… something was obviously, very seriously wrong…

"Look!" Johnny pointed out beyond the hole, "Looklooklooklook…!"

The all stepped forward to see a large… thing moving out towards the trees and away from the facility. Something in Danica's chest dropped a she watched, knowing immediately what it was.

"What is that thing?" Johnny asked from somewhere over her shoulder and she turned her head to look directly at him.

"…It's Ben," she turned back around to look out after the retreating man. She sighed heavily, realizing he must have been running back home.

* * *

Please REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Marvel or any of its ideas/characters.

Summary: Reed's niece, Danica, has lived with him since she was nine. What happens when she comes along to space with her uncle and everyone else? She's known Johnny Storm for years, neither of them ever really being friends, and now they have been forced back into contact with one another. Is it a recipe for disaster? Future Johnny/OC

::Special Thanks to:: theblackwriter, ., aRLegOdDesS, Jen, xAdelinex, penny3, Funkysam94, witchbaby300, ShikaKibaShinoGal

**UpDaTe:: ****I realize that Johnny isn't a blond in the movie, but… I can't get over the original Marvel idea of him being a blond. So, he's a blond in this story regardless of the actor in the movie – just figured I'd clear that up in case there was any confusion. I understand why there would be.**

The Past in Present

_Chapter Four_

Danica couldn't have even begun to explain how truly dismayed she had been when Reed hailed a cab for them upon leaving Victor's medical facility with the intent of tracking down Ben. Sue had lucked out and grabbed up the front passenger seat while she had ended up wedged between her uncle and Johnny in the back seat. And Johnny had been complaining and shifting around restless through the entire ride out into the city. By the time they got to the bridge, moving on to scan as much of the city as possible once they'd been unable to find Ben around his and Debbie's place, they were all pretty much at their wit's end.

"I'm just saying, if you guys would have just let us borrow one of Victor's cars, I could have driven and we'd be there by now. It's not like he would have missed the thing – he's got five!"

"Johnny…" Danica sighed irritably, shaking her head at the blond. "Shut up."

"He would have gladly handed over the keys to any one of them if Sue would have just asked him, I bet." The blond gestured at the back of the seat his sister sat in. Sue shifted uncomfortably and Danica could feel her uncle doing the same beside her – the lines of Sue's relationship with Victor seemed to be a rather tender subject to them both.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Danica finally turned her head to look at Johnny, the movement catching his attention.

"I'm making conversation," he answered.

"No you aren't," she snapped irritably. "You're whining."

"Uh, no. I don't whine."

"Well you are."

"I think you're confused…"

"I think you're stupid."

"That's your opinion."

"Yeah, well, it's a helluva lot better then any of yours," she snapped once again, ignoring the way Reed shook his head at her. "Now will you please just shut up? We're all anxious about Ben and you aren't making things any easier."

"You know, my voice has been known to have a calming effect on people," Johnny told her all mater-of-fact like.

Danica scoffed, "And who told you that? One of your flight simulator hookers?"

"Dani…" Reed frowned at his niece, but Danica just made a face at him and heaved a sigh.

And then Johnny took to staring at her. She could see his face as it turned towards her from the corner of her eye and felt his blue gaze on her – it made her itch, shift uncomfortably against the old, torn taxi seat pleather and her arms crossed over her chest defensively. The cab fell into a somewhat tense silence, but Danica almost preferred Johnny talking a mile a minute compared to his staring. She made the mistake of glancing over at the blond when it started to get to be too much and their eyes met, narrowed blue on tentative and suspicious brown, his lips slightly parted and brow furrowed over in consideration.

"What?"

"You keep bringing up Valerie and Jessica."

"Who?" She frowned at him.

"The two friends of mine I took on a friendly tour of the flight simulator," Johnny explained and watched as Danica's brows lifted high over her eyes.

"Wow," she snorted softly. "I'm impressed. You actually remember their names?"

"Yeah, well, Valerie, Jessica, Angela… they're all pretty interchangeable." A grin stretched his lips, brow twitching and arching suggestively.

"You're such a pig," Danica's face twisted in disgust.

"So not the point," Johnny smirked at the girl. "You keep bringing them up. I think somebody's jealous."

Danica actually laughed at the blond, "Are you kidding?" When Johnny didn't do anything beyond shrugging, face still smug and amused, Danica looked to her uncle with a deteriorating expression – the scientist was pointedly staring out the window, looking very much like he was trying not to smile. She looked back at Johnny, "You are kidding, right?"

"No, actually, I'm quite serious." The blond explained, "You can't seem to get past how earth shatteringly attractive I am."

"Oh Johnny… Johnny, no…" Danica started snorted, shaking her head and holding up a hand to the blond. "Please, just stop right there. You're embarrassing yourself."

"Hey, you want to live in a world of denial, be my guest," Johnny continued, shrugging and gesturing at the girl beside him. "I'm just saying, it might be ok right now, but eventually you're gonna have to face reality."

Danica was holding a hand over her mouth as if to hold her humor in, "Reality? What reality is that?"

"That you just aren't in my league…" Johnny winced, breathing in through his teeth with a hiss.

Danica scoffed at the blond, shaking her head, and let out a breath of relief as she turned her head away from him. "And thank God for that. If I was stuck in the same sorry league as you I might have had to kill myself."

Sue was turned in her seat now, looking back over her shoulder at her younger brother and Danica. Her soft gaze leapt over from them as their bickering continued and to Reed – they shared a knowing look, Sue's lips tugging in a smirk and Reed covering up his own as he rubbed his fingers against his upper lip. She doubted either Johnny or Danica saw it just yet, but the two's playful insults and banter and light bickering reminded her a lot of how she and Reed had been back when they'd first met. Back when feelings were blossoming, new and exciting. Truest and purest as they began to see each other in different lights – more the colleagues, more then friends, started to see each other in a lover's light. She didn't think they were quite there yet, but she could only hope that whatever became of her brother and young friend, things worked out better for them then they had for her and Reed…

Suddenly, the cab rolled to a stop and the sound of blaring horns and metal colliding and crushing for told of the accident up ahead long before any of them climbed out of the cab for a look. A collective gasp sounded across the bridge; several cars and a large big-rig were all smashed together, smoke and debris filling the air and jumbling the streets. Somehow, none of them were very sure how, but they all knew Ben was out there in the middle of the carnage. The police were already out and holding bystanders back from the crash and it became apparent that they had no hope of getting through to their friend almost immediately.

"Jeez… what are we supposed to do now?" Danica asked, craning her neck in an attempt to see over and past all the noisy people.

"Well, we're not gonna get past these guys…" Reed began and looked over to Sue, thoughts clearly whirling around in that head of his, "but you could."

Sue met his eyes and stared, face twisting incredulously. When it became apparent that Reed was dead serious about this she sighed heavily and closed her eyes, immediately becoming transparent to all of those around her. Danica watched it all happen in amazement, not having seen the effects of the cloud on Sue before.

Reed looked around nervously, "Sue – your clothes. Lose them."

"Oh. Right." She started tugging off her blazer and then her button up shirt next, the garments falling off of her transparent body in a flutter.

Danica saw Johnny shift uncomfortably beside her and she smirked at him. He was turned away, facing her and doing everything possible to keep from looking anywhere near or around his sister.

"This is so wrong…" the blond muttered under his breath.

"She's invisible, Johnny," she chuckled at him. "It's not like you can see anything, ya know."

"So not the point," he grit out. Despite his words, he turned back around, cautiously, to look over the space his sister had disappeared from. As he did, Sue's nerves got the better of her and she became visible once more. Johnny groaned unhappily, head whipping away again, disgust rumbling in his throat as Danica laughed at him. He frowned at her, "It's not funny, Dani."

"I think it's hilarious."

"You're a bad person," he muttered, hands braced on his hips and body turned away from a panicking Susan.

The blonde woman tried to cover herself, her alarm and embarrassment coloring her face as people became aware of her and stared pointing her out to others. Johnny wouldn't even turn around at this point, staring straight ahead out beyond the bridge to the water with a furrow in his tense brow. Reed was just standing there, staring at Sue in barely contained awe of her and Danica rolled her eyes at her uncle. Poor dope…

"Wow," Reed finally spoke. "You've been working out."

"Shut up!" Sue growled and Danica was stuck between a snicker and a groan at the complete lack of tact from her uncle. Sue grabbed up her blazer and tried to cover herself with it, only somewhat succeeding. She glared death at Reed, "Any more great ideas? Why don't you strip down and have a hundred people stare at you!"

As she shouted, her visibility waned once more right before their eyes.

"Sue…" Reeded nodded pointedly to her body as it vanished.

"What?" she snapped, apparently looking down at herself and seeing right through. "Oh." She dropped her blazer and proceeded to shuck her panties and bra as well.

"I'm gonna need therapy…" Johnny was muttering again beside Danica. His blue eyes were wide and carefully trained on the road under his feet; even Reed looked less awed and more awkward now.

"It's not as if you can see her," Danica pointed out.

"Once again, so not the point," he frowned tensely at her. She just laughed at him and he scowled, giving her shoulder a shove. "Shut up, Dani."

Once Sue was rid of every piece of clothing, Danica bent to gather them all up as Sue made her way through the crowd, distracting people and officers as she bumped past them, unseen. Reed nudged Johnny, "Hey, come on. Let's get out of here."

The blond nodded, happy to oblige and get away from his invisible and very naked sister and all the people who had been witness to the event. Danica could hear the surprised and befuddled gasps and chattering from the people Sue passed, every now and then glimpsing someone getting knocked aside a bit in her wake. It had been incredible to watch happen, Sue vanishing before her eyes… it kind of made her wonder though – Reed stretched, Sue vanished, Johnny was a human lighter, and something was up with Ben… why hadn't the cloud effected her? All she got was dizzy and mild chest pain.

Great, she scoffed inwardly. She had the power of cosmic heartburn or something.

They toed around the police and crowd, eventually managing to get out into the carnage of the situation. Sue materialized behind the safety and privacy of a car shortly after, dressing again in quick, agitated movements. The siren of a fire truck was wailing in the distance as they took it upon themselves to branch out in search of Ben – Reed and Sue went one way and Johnny followed after Danica in another.

Danica caught sight of Sue from the corner of her eye as the blonde woman stood up on the hood of a car, scanning the bridge and maze of crashed and smashed cars littering the road, calling out for Ben. She heard Johnny coming up behind her, about three cars back, and saw her uncle further down past Sue calling for Ben too.

"Do you see him?" Johnny called, asking from a car's distance from her.

Danica shook her head, trying to find the man through the chaos. It was hard though, especially since they weren't so sure Ben even looked like himself anymore… Looking over to Sue again, Danica watched as something passed over her face. Her lips parted in what must have been a gasp and Danica followed her gaze out – responding to the calling of his name, Ben stepped out into plan view.

"Oh… god…" Danica said under her breath. What she was seeing was clearly Ben, it had to be Ben… and yet it wasn't Ben at all. He looked to be a mass of orange stone, hulking and heavy; so this was what the cloud had given Ben Grimm. She swallowed thickly, brow furrowing over, "Oh Ben…"

Johnny passed a gaze from Ben and to Danica, eyeing the line of the girl's back and her profile as she stared. Clearly, she didn't know what to make of it or how to react anymore then he did. In a way, that was a relief.

Following the soft line of her nose, Johnny felt a shudder deep in the muscles of his calves. He pulled his gaze away from Danica and frowned down at the street beneath his feet, feeling the tremor of… something rumble under the soles of his shoes, up his legs, and into his spine. Jolting slightly, the blond whipped his head around to eye a large red tank a few yards off from them – he could _feel_ heat and pressure building up dangerously inside. A spike of apprehension hit him in the gut and his head swung back around to Danica, looking down the line of her turned and vulnerable back, the base of her fragile human skull…

Without another thought, Johnny launched himself towards the girl, jumping onto the hood of a car and propelling himself at Danica just as the tank exploded. The contents of the thing went off in a deadly hot flare of fire and gas, expanding at a wicked pace. The blast swallowed cars and sent some into the air, shaking the bridge and hurtling out towards Danica. Johnny held his breath as he grabbed the girl from behind, just in time, wedging himself between her and the blast, arms wrapping around her like a vice, shielding her with his own body. He clapped his eyes shut, sure in that moment that he would die, but somehow it didn't bother him. All he was concerned with was Danica and his body tightened around her back, feeling her hands clasping around his closed fists against her chest.

He was surprised with how little being several, mortally burned hurt. At most he felt a tingle, a brush of warmth through his jacket against his spine. It was almost comforting if he really thought about it.

Johnny didn't budge, didn't open his eyes or even breathe until the roar of flames and crush of cars being thrown skyward were gone. He let out a hot breath of relief once the noise died down, eyes opening and dropping to the top of Danica's head, allowing his grip around her to loosen enough for the girl to take a breath too. Her hands were clasped tightly against his and he felt her turning in his hold, but he couldn't look her in the eye just yet – didn't know why, but he couldn't. So he craned his neck around first to be sure both Reed and his sister had escaped the explosion. A fire truck was dangling precariously over one side of the bridge, but there didn't appear to be anyone who had gotten hurt by the tank. Once his and Sue's eyes had met, the woman nodding her well being to him, he finally chanced a look down at the girl in his arms, finding her staring up at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

"You ok?" He asked her, noticing they were both breathing heavily. He watched her nod, still staring at him with something he couldn't quite explain etched into the worry around her eyes and mouth – alarm perhaps, but that wasn't quite it. He twisted his hand around and grabbed onto hers, nodding towards the dangling fire truck, "Come on."

Danica was too dazed to argue and she let Johnny turn her about and drag her along with him by the hand. By the time they got to the fire truck Ben was already there, struggling to pull it safely back onto the bridge. Danica could see that Reed was already there too. She and Johnny both watched as one of the firemen hanging from the end of the truck's ladder fell to his death off the bridge and towards the water below – a collective gasp from bystanders rang out shrilly around them, but, amazingly, Reed caught the man. With arms stretched to an insane length, the scientist grabbed the man from his freefall and pulled him right back up to safety. Soon after, Ben managed to pull the truck from the edge of the bridge and further disaster was avoided – narrowly, but avoided.

And then, just as everyone started to breath evenly again, the police swooped down on Ben. Their guns were raised and aimed and it was clear that they meant to arrest the stony man, but the crowd on the bridge wasn't having ay of that. Much to Danica's relief, calls of hero were shouted, as everyone demanded Ben was left alone.

That relief was short lived though; Ben paid no attention to the police or crowds of people. He was staring straight ahead at only one person and Danica felt her hands clench reflexively at her sides. Ben was staring at Debbie; the blonde woman stood near the front of the sea of people looking forlorn and shaking her head at the man she was supposed to be unconditionally in love with. Danica felt a knot of absolute sadness wrap around her lungs and throat as she watched Debbie remove the engagement ring Ben had given her only a few months ago – the ring Ben had been so worried about and had begged Danica to come with him to the jeweler to help pick it out.

Debbie bent and placed the band of promises on the ground before turning away from Ben and walking out of his life forever. The diamond glinted against the asphalt as it caught the sun, a beautiful broken promise.

Danica's heart broke when Ben made to retrieve the ring, his stone fingers too big and the ring too small for him to pick it up. She could hear the sound of his teeth grinding together as his frustration grew. She wanted to step up and help the man, but her feet felt rooted to the spot and her stomach too heavy for her to move. A breath of relief returned to her when Reed stepped up, kneeling beside his old friend and picking the ring up for him. He placed it in the palm of Ben's huge stone hand, carefully, looking the other man straight in the eye as they both stood up.

"I swear to you…" Reed began, voice low but strong and full with a kind of determination Danica hadn't heard in her uncle's voice in a long time. "I will do everything in my power, until there is not a breath left in me…" Reed clasped his hands over Ben's broad, hard shoulders, with unquestionable sincerity in his eyes. "You're gonna be Ben again."

Ben nodded slowly, but Danica could see that his hopes ran thin. His eyes kept returning to the ring in his hand, following the curve of the silver band and eyeing the diamond. He looked heartbroken and ready to cry… Danica found herself wondering if he even could cry in his current state. She really didn't want to find out.

"He's still Ben," Danica finally managed to do something other then just stand there. She offered a smile when the man looked at her. "He's just got rock hard abs and went a little heavy on the self tanner is all," she winked at Ben. He cracked a little smile, a tiny light flickering in the dark room of his sadness; it wasn't much, but it was enough for Danica to know things would be ok. Eventually.

She looked to her uncle next, smile dropping off her face as she took in his expression. He was staring at her, brow twisted and mouth stretched into something of confusion and amusement. The look unnerved her and she studied him carefully as their eyes met.

"…what?" she asked.

Reed arched his brows and Danica was starting to get seriously uneasy as Sue came to Reed's side and started looking her over too, trying to cover up a rather large grin Danica didn't find any comfort in with her hand.

"What?" She demanded again a little sharply, looking between the two of them now.

"Nothing," Sue answered for them, still grinning at her. "Just glad to see the two of you aren't bickering anymore." She nodded towards Johnny, who Danica could still see standing beside her from the corner of her eye.

"What are you talking about?" The young woman scowled, annoyance clearly growing.

Sue pointed a finger towards her and Johnny, low between them. Danica followed the gesture down to her right hand and felt her stomach drop and face burst into flames; her hand was still wrapped around Johnny's from when the blond had pulled her along to the distressed fire truck after the tank explosion. She hadn't realized it until now what with all the chaos that had been going on.

"Johnny!" Her voice cracked a little as she jerked her hand free of the man's, turning a pair of accusing eyes on him. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"What?" The blond frowned at the way she was looking at him, "You're the one that wouldn't let go of me. I tried, but your grip just got tighter every time I did!"

Danica's face felt like it was on fire with the heat of her embarrassment. She clutched her hands to her chest, turning her gaze away from Johnny, Sue and her uncle. She fit a scowl over her face, trying to look as severe and off-putting as she possible could with a blush as intense as the one she wore coloring pale skin a bright crimson all the way down her neck and up to her ears.

Sue and Reed just laughed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Danica couldn't believe the nerves that shook and filled her stomach as she approached the blond. Johnny was sitting on the edge of a table set up under the musty, plastic overhang tent the medical technicians on site were using as a control base. Her stomach was bunching up inside of her, making her nauseous as she drew nearer to the male like she hadn't felt since she was in high school. She had to steal herself to continue, taking a deep breath and setting her jaw tightly as she stepped up to the table at his side. She felt his gaze when he lifted his head to look at her, watching her push herself up onto the table beside him. He didn't seem to think much of the action and his gaze was off of her again in an instant. Danica saw this and hesitated, hand lifting to brush unnecessarily at the short hair around her ear, nervously.

"Johnny…" she began, clearing her throat and knotting her fingers together in her lap, ankles crossing as her legs hung off the edge of the table. He hummed questioningly and she could feel his eyes on her again, causing her to avoid the blue orbs. "I… just… wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"For earlier." The confusion in his voice forced her to glance up at him, "For what you did." He stared at her, jaw loosening as his brow furrowed. He clearly didn't understand and Danica saw this; she rolled her eyes at him. "What you did for me out on the bridge. When the tank exploded."

"Ooh…" he nodded, understanding dawning on him. He glanced over her and shrugged, "It was no big deal."

"No, you don't understand," she shook her head at him, holding his gaze in all seriousness. "For me… it was a huge deal, Johnny. If you hadn't stepped in like you did…" she swallowed harshly, "…I don't think I'd be here now. So, thank you. I really mean it."

Danica watched as he got real still, staring at her with a kind of focus and intensity she hadn't seen since the cloud and the space shuttle. The more she thought about it, she doubted she'd ever seen that kind of intensity in his eyes ever and having it all directed at her made her shift uncomfortably.

"So… you're saying I saved your life?" Johnny said slowly, the intensity in his eyes waning slightly but still present around the edges.

Danica paused for only a second, taking that brief moment to take the event and her feelings into account before answering him. In the end she nodded, fastening her gaze with his once again despite the unease his eyes tended to cause her. "Yeah, Johnny. I'm saying that I really do think you probably saved my life out there."

A wide grin stretched his mouth and Danica frowned at the sight of it. The expression didn't fit the mood around them and she found herself leaning away from the blond beside her as he stared and grinned at her.

"What?" She finally asked, cautiously.

"You so totally owe me now." A flash of teeth peeked out from behind his lips as Johnny's grin grew.

"I expressed my gratitude," she scowled at him; she could see the typical Johnny Storm coming out of him again. "I don't owe you anything."

"No, I'm pretty sure you do," the grin became a smirk.

Rolling her eyes once more and huffing an irritable sigh, Danica conceded blandly, not in the mood to fight with the man beside her. "Fine. I owe you. What do you want?"

"Oh no," Johnny shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked rather smug with himself. "Debts are no laughing matter. I got to let this stew a while and use it practically."

"Practically?" Danica snorted, "Johnny, you don't have a practical bone in your body."

"How about a kiss?"

Danica sat there, stunned to silence and just staring. Blinking slowly, she frowned at the blond, "I'm sorry… what?"

"You owe me. I'd like a kiss."

"What happened to letting it stew?"

"Yeah, well, I've put some serious thought into it," Johnny explained like this should be common sense, "and I want a kiss for my troubles."

"Try it and I'll punch you."

"Dani," Johnny made a face at her, "I saved your life. I mean I _threw_ myself between you and a fiery inferno… I risked my life to protect you, honeybunch."

"Oh my god, if you start calling me 'honeybunch' I really will kill you."

"You said so yourself that if it weren't for me you'd be six-feet-under..." he shook his head at her. "And all I'm asking for in return is one little kiss."

"No."

"You're being so selfish, Dani."

"I don't care. Keep stewing, Romeo," she said as she pushed off the table and walked off and away from him.

Johnny cracked a grin again and chuckled as he watched her put as much distance between them as she possibly could within the confines of the medical base. Still sporting the same broad grin and smugly arching brows, Johnny turned his head to look over at Ben who was standing just off to the side of the table. The two men's eyes met, Ben having been keeping an eye on them the entire time Danica had been speaking with Johnny even though the depression hadn't left him yet; Debbie's forsaken engagement ring, small and delicate, in the palm of his great stone hand.

The blond nodded his head after Danica, shifting his weight on the table and looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Hear that? She called me 'Romeo'."

Ben's expression darkened in response, his frown pulling at his hard brow and mouth as he glared at Johnny.

The blond threw out an arm like he was shooting a cuff, looking at his bare wrist like he was checking a watch for the time. "Oh yeah…" he smirked, "she'll be all over me in no time."

"Watch it, Play Boy," Ben growled. Johnny, per usual, wasn't listening.

In the next few moments, an officer wearing a firemen's coat came in under the overhang looking around at them. Danica wasn't sure of what to make of his expression, looking to her uncle and following his lead as he stepped up to the man. Seeing them approaching, the officer jab his thumb back over his shoulder the way he'd come.

"There are some folks outside that want to talk to you," he informed them, looking to Reed as he, Sue and Danica stood before him.

"We're not going public with this." Reed shook his head, looking somewhat scandalized by the very idea of it. "We're scientists, not celebrities."

"Well, it's a little late for that," the man scoffed at them. He gestured to a television set off to the side, stepping up to spike the volume up enough for them to all hear just what was being said on the news.

_{…when a New York Fire Department ladder truck became part of the tragedy. But the rescue itself is not the story.}_

Every one of their attentions was effectively grabbed up by the reporter and the scene on the screen behind her. Horror and disbelief colored most of their expressions, but Johnny's was a completely different story. The blond stared in awe, looking absolutely thrilled to be seeing himself on television.

_{One of the four stretched to an amazing length-!}_

"…The Fantastic Four?" Danica read the bold white print that flashed brightly along the bottom of the television screen. She threw a look at her uncle, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The officer smiled and waved his hand at her, catching her attention before gesturing to the television and at everyone else around Danica, "That's what they're calling you. The Fantastic Four."

"Cool!" Johnny's eyes went wide and bright as he turned to jog out of the medical enclosure and away from the group. Danica knew his intent immediately and heaved an irritated sigh, crossing her arms and shaking her head – she tried to settle her attention on what was being said on the news report.

"No, wait!" Sue called after her brother, "Where are you going?"

He paused long enough to look at her, answering with a tone that suggested Sue should already know this, "I'm gonna go talk to 'em."

"No!" Sue snapped, looking from Johnny to Reed with a stern motherly expression that matched the one Reed tend to sport from time to time. "We should think this through first…"

"Yeah, that's great." Johnny gestured around at them, making a circular motion with his hands, "Brainstorm."

And then the blond was gone, not that Danica was at all surprised. She rolled her eyes, having watched till he completely disappeared from her peripheral. Typical Johnny Storm, always on the look out for something that could get him a mountain of attention regardless of anyone else's feelings on the matter…

* * *

Review Please!!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Marvel or any of its ideas/characters.

Summary: Reed's niece, Danica, has lived with him since she was nine. What happens when she comes along to space with her uncle and everyone else? She's known Johnny Storm for years, neither of them ever really being friends, and now they have been forced back into contact with one another. Is it a recipe for disaster? Future Johnny/OC

::Special Thanks to:: xAdelinex, aRLegOdDesS, MKhigh-865, ohlookitsme, witchbaby300, markie09, casey21791, Raine44354, Trickster 707, Hope and love, 3karen3, Musik Drache, Lyris88, BErinHaribo, Funazzachick

**FYI:: THE TITLE OF THIS STORY WILL BE CHANGED TO 'SIMPLE AS IT SHOULD BE' FROM THIS POINT ON. ~ THANKS**

Simple as it Should Be

_Chapter Five_

Danica rubbed her fingers against her temple, the throb of a headache keeping time with her pulse. It echoed through her head, made the sensitive nerves in her skull ache. She felt tired, sore like she'd been in a fight; a pressure pressing in around her eyes and Johnny 'RockStar' Storm wasn't helping matters at all. He acted like a fool the entire ride to the Baxter Building, dark shades over his eyes, the collar of his jacket popped up around his neck, with teeth flashing and lips stretched out in a shit-eating grin. In that moment he looked just like the nineteen-year-old egomaniac she remembered meeting for the first time at her sixteenth birthday party six years ago.

Danica rolled her eyes, not at all impressed by the display. And it only got worse as they filed out of the vehicle. Johnny greeted the hordes of people waiting outside the building, acting the part of shiny new celebrity while the rest of them were only trying to get inside without further issue.

Danica side-stepped around the blond as he stopped to bask in the perfumes and powdered faces of swooning groupies, ignoring the nameless strangers and falling into step beside her uncle.

"Someone looks unhappy…" Reed noted as he looked at his niece.

"Signing autographs and entertaining the masses isn't really my thing," Danica said simply.

Reed chuckled at her, "You sing for a living. Autographs and entertaining the masses comes with the job description, doesn't it?"

"Not even close to the same thing," she scoffed and frowned. She gestured back over her shoulder and Reed followed it to see Johnny and the group of women Sue was currently dragging him away from. "He's acting like an idiot."

"He's just…"

"An idiot?"

Reed chuckled, "I was going to say overzealous; fervent even. But that works too, I guess."

With Sue now carting Johnny along with them, their little motley crew stepped over the threshold of the building's large double doors. A collective sigh of relief passed over them, excluding Johnny of course, when the doors were closed behind them and fell under the watchful eyes of security to keep out the hordes.

"Welcome back to the Baxter, Dr. Richards." Wilbert Grayson, the cheery old mailman greeted them in the same happy, pleasant manner he always did. He dug into his mailbag and pulled out several letters all bound together with a rubber band and handed them over to Reed, "I've got the usual for you." Reed thanked the elderly man, flipping through the bills and final notices that made up his mail.

"Hey, Willie," Danica smiled sincerely to the man when he turned to her.

"Glad to have you back as well, Miss Dani," Wilbert fished out a smaller stack of mail for her and handed it over with his ever-present smile. When she'd accepted the little bundle, Wilbert gestured out to the crowd watching from the glass panels of the doors outside, "All that for you?"

Danica shook her head, "No. You've got those four to thank for that," she nodded towards the others.

"Thought maybe you and Mr. Parker had hit the big time."

She chuckled as she waved the idea off, "Afraid not."

"Well, you two have always got my vote," Wilbert assured her as he went about his merry little mailman way. "Take care."

"Thanks, Willie," Danica smiled as she bid the old man goodbye and resumed following her uncle and the others to the elevator.

Johnny was suddenly right there beside her, reaching for her mail with clear intent to nose through her letters like they were his to browse through. "What vote was he talking about?"

"Mind your own business, Caddyshack," she snapped at him and clutched her mail to her chest.

"Caddyshack?"

"Like the movie," she nodded as they all stepped into the elevator and waited for the doors to slide shut. "Called a classic, widely popular, but basically a waste of time."

Johnny just frowned at her for a long moment, "Wait… you saying you don't like Caddyshack?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"You aren't human." Johnny shook his head slowly at her, "Who doesn't like Caddyshack?"

Danica sighed, "And once again you have so utterly and completely missed the point."

"Do you know what she's talking about?" Johnny turned to his sister.

"She's saying you're a fan favorite, but drastically overrated," Sue explained simply.

"Thank you, Sue," Danica and the blonde woman exchanged smiles as Johnny looked between them in alarm.

"Hey!" He squawked, "You two are so not allowed to gang-up on me like this! Uncool!"

Reed chuckled and punched the proper button for their floor as the doors slide shut in front of them. The elevator lurched, gears grinding and audibly straining as it attempted to climb up the shaft, but failed with a horrible whine of metal and wires. They all looked somewhat stricken, tensing up as the alarm buzzed angrily at them.

Of course, Johnny was the first to comment as he cocked a brow, "Either we're moving really fast… or not at all."

The red warning light flashed on – 'Exceed Maximum Weight' – glaring at them from over the door. Everyone's eyes immediately swooped over to Ben, despite their best efforts to keep from accusing. The stony man heaved a sigh, looking put out and tired already.

"I'll take the stairs…" Ben shuffled out of the elevator. He looked back at them with a look so forlorn it was sad before he turned away completely.

The doors started to shut once more, but Danica put her hand out to stop them from shutting. She tossed a look back to her uncle as she stepped out too, "I'm going with Ben."

"Why?" Johnny asked, laughing as he spoke, "Hunk of rock is liable to collapse the stairs first foot he gets on them and you want to be there when it happens? Good luck with that, man." Danica fixed a parting glare on him for his troubles.

Once the door had shut and the elevator lurched upward properly, Johnny picked up the scowl he'd had on his feet to look at Sue and Reed. "She hates me, doesn't she?"

"You don't think before you speak, Johnny," Sue shook her head at her brother. "I think everyone's frustrated with you for that."

"Yeah, well that's fine," he frowned at her, gesturing to the elevator doors as bells chiming off each floor as they passed them to the top. "But she _hates_ me."

"She doesn't hate you, Johnny," Reed sighed. "Just give her some time. She'll come around."

"She's had three years to stew on it, Reed. More time is the last thing she needs," Johnny folded his arms over his chest. "I have to work some magic fast…"

Reed and Sue shared a look, questioning the male Storm simultaneously, "Magic?"

"Dani's a girl," Johnny shot a grin at his own reflection in the buff and shine of the doors. "I know girls."

Reed and Sue just shook their heads.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"You didn't have to come with me, sweetie," Ben said as he and Danica climbed past the tenth floor of the 35-story office building she and Reed lived in the top five floors of. "You can check the lift if you want. Won't hurt my feelings."

"Naw, stairs are better for you," she shot him a smile and he returned it.

It was a hell of a climb, her calves and thighs having long since started to burn in protest. But she honestly didn't mind it all that much; Ben was good company and she really didn't like the idea of making the man walk up all this long way by himself while everyone else shot up in the little tin rocket of an elevator they building had. Didn't seem right and seemed even less fair. And then, of course, there was the whole thing where Johnny had been in the elevator too…

"Better then the alternative at least," Danica elaborated as they came up on the eleventh floor.

"Bite off more Johnny Storm then you could chew?" The stony man asked with a breathless chuckle.

Danica scoffed, "More like force fed. I had no intention in ever seeing him again."

"Doesn't look like we'll be getting grid of him anytime soon either," Ben grumbled, sympathetic to Danica's dislike of the Johnny Storm situation.

"Yeah, yeah…" Danica sighed, "Unfortunately."

They dropped into silence for the next six floors, the sound of Danica's shoes and Ben's heavy rock feet on the stairs the only sound transpiring between them – there wasn't too much to talk about at the moment anyway, both of them solely focused on getting up to the Richards residence where they could kick back and relax a little before Reed jumped head first into tests and experiments on everyone. It was a comfortable enough silence, the two of them wrapped up in their own thoughts for a good few minutes.

"Ben?" Danica finally broke the silence, her ability to reason and sate her own concerns reaching their limit. His head turned in attention and she continued, "Do think it's weird?"

A hearty laugh left Ben, the edges of the sound slightly bitter, "I find a lot of things weird right now, sweetie."

"No," she shook her head. "No, I mean with me. Not that it's a bad thing, but don't you think it's a little weird that I'm the only one who isn't… you know, 'Fantastic'?" She spoke the word a little sarcastically, using fingers to mime quotations around the word as she climbed up the stairs along side the man. "I was in the same station as everyone else. I mean I was right there in the same area with you and uncle Reed and Johnny, but I'm not showing any symptoms of the cloud at all. Even Sue was effected and she was out in the corridor, way behind the rest of us."

"Victor wasn't affected," Ben reasoned, but Danica shook her head.

"Yeah, but he was behind the shields."

Ben fell quiet again as he mulled this over, stony head turning thoughtfully. He came up with nothing and shrugged his wide shoulders, "I don't know, sweetie. Maybe you just got lucky." He waved a heavy hand out in front of them, "Blew over you or something."

"It sure hurt as hell for just blowing over me," she sighed, shaking her head again.

"You still hurting?" He asked, looking at her pointedly.

"No."

"No?"

She frowned at him, "No. I'm not hurting…"

"Sounds like there might be a but hanging off there at the end somewhere."

"It doesn't hurt," she elaborated, stepping up and past the twentieth floor. "I already told you what it was like – kind of fuzzy in my chest. No pain or anything, just…"

"Always there."

"Exactly," she nodded. "You feel anything like that?"

"Tch!" Ben scoffed at her, pausing on a step to hold his arms out and wave them around a little, "No. It went from feeling heavy to _being_ heavy."

"Yeah…" she mussed thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, up at Creepy von Creeper's place Johnny was complaining about being hot –"

"Complaining? Normally can't get the PlayBoy to shut up about his pretty face," Ben sounded stunned. "First time for everything I guess."

Danica laughed and rolled her eyes, "Not what I meant and you know it." She jumped up the last few steps to the twenty-second floor, feeling her legs tingle and her muscles practically scream in protest. "He was complaining about being overheated. Like someone had the heater jacked up in the place, but it didn't feel any different to me and nobody else was complaining."

"…so?"

"Soooooo, then a few hours later he comes storming in like a bat out of hell with his thumb on fire," he gestured in front of her like the thumb was right there on display for them. "I can't account for how uncle Reed or Sue might have been feeling before they started weirding out, but Johnny felt feverish and now he's on fire. You felt like a rock and now…" she trailed off, stunting her words before she could finished them and wincing slightly as she peered at the man from the corner of her eye.

"And now I am a rock," Ben finished for her anyway, that put out tone back in his voice. "So you thinking you're some kind of late bloomer or something?"

"Well… maybe. Or maybe not," she shook her head slowly. "I had a concussion and was knocked the hell out for days. It could all just be from that and I'm just reading too much into this."

"Or you could be on to something there," Ben countered. "Not like we know anything about all this for certain yet. What else you thinking?"

She hesitated and looked for a moment like she was just going to cut the conversation off right then and there and not say another word about it. But… Ben had given her an out and basically permission to prattle on about her opinions.

"Ok," she took a breath. "So I'm thinking what if I am reacting to the cloud and have been this whole time?"

"You ain't showing any sign of it…"

"Not externally, no," she agreed but didn't stop there. "What it's done to you and everyone else is all external. Reed stretches, Sue disappears, Johnny ignites, and you've undergone a complete physical change… but what if mine is different?" She crossed over and stepped in front of Ben, continuing up the stairs backwards, "What if I'm changing _internally_?"

Ben regarded her seriously, "The fuzzy feeling?"

She nodded, "What if that's like Johnny being hot? A kind of warning before the trigger?"

"Yeah, ok, but what're you gonna do? Turn into a cloud?"

"Who knows," she shrugged as they passed the twenty-sixth floor, their final destination finally coming into view. "At this rate I wouldn't be surprised; could be that nothing happens at all."

"Or could be that a whole lot of something happens," Ben gave her a look. "You just make sure that uncle of yours runs every test his egg of head can think of with you."

She chuckled, "Don't worry, I will."

The last four floors eased by with a slightly less intense conversation and relief sagged in both Danica and Ben's shoulders as they crossed over from the stairwell to the entryway of the Richards office/lab/home. As ready for anything both of them seemed to be by now, neither of them had been prepared to be greeted by the sight of Reed and Victor Von Doom squaring off near the elevator. The lights overhead flickered like a threat as the last of Victor's apparent anger echoed in the hall.

"Is there a problem?" Ben interjected immediately. Danica stood just off to his right, regarding the situation with a similar look of unease as she noted the uncertain expression on her uncle's face.

Victor only stared at Ben, looking himself to be at a loss for words, as he looked the man over. He didn't look alarmed by Ben's appearance, but rather he looked as put out as the stony man's tone tended to be, perhaps tired even, but not even close to alarmed. Not even mildly surprised. "No. No problem, Ben." The elevator chimed its arrival and Victor turned his full attention back to Reed, practically growling at the shorter scientist, "Just pay your damn electric bill and get to work on finding a cure."

Danica watched as her uncle's shoulders lifted and dropped with the force of his sigh and folded her arms across her chest. She tossed a less then amicable glare Victor's way as the man entered the waiting elevator. She muttered, "Always such a pleasure, Creeper." From the way Victor stared at her between the closing doors of the lift she knew she'd been heard.

"Dani, don't call him that…"

"I'll stop calling him Creeper when he stops acting like one," she huffed at her uncle. "What was he doing here anyway?"

"Just..." Reed began but shook his head and stopped short. "Never mind him. How was the walk up?"

"It inspired Ben and I to think about career changes to become Ultimate Fighters," Danica quipped playfully. She lifted an arm and flexed the muscle, "Look at that tone."

Reed grinded at the girl, shaking his head, "Sounds good." He sighed heavily again, taking a look around him suddenly like he had a million things to do but couldn't decide where to start – Danica figured that probably wasn't too far from the truth. "Why don't you both go settle in and relax a little while. I want to run some tests with everyone, but I'll need some time to set up first…"

"I ain't too winded to set up your beakers and unpack the test tubes, Egghead," Ben gruffed good-naturedly. "I'll give you a hand." The two friends turned to head to the lab and Danica left them to it in favor of going to her room.

Walking the way to her room was second nature to Danica now, but she could remember when that had been a different story, back when she'd first come here to live with her uncle. She'd only been nine-years-old then and Reed had been just shy of twenty-five, barely an adult himself really – too young to be raising a nine-year-old in any case. The Baxter Building had seemed like a monster to her then, so big she was certain she'd get lost and scared to death of the sheer magnitude of their living space. The place had been pretty empty too; Reed had only just moved into the place a few months before her arrival and there was still the odd box tucked in the corner waiting to be emptied. The lab had been more moved and lived in then the actual living space. On top of that, she hadn't known Reed very well at the time.

Sure, she known him as her uncle Reed and she'd seen him at various family events over the years – Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the occasional birthday. He was her father's younger brother, the two of them separated by ten years, but she and Reed hadn't been terribly close then; they'd been a part of two entirely differ lives, sometimes crossing wires, but never for very long. And besides… the circumstances in which she'd come to be in his care weren't the very best they could have been.

Danica shook her head, not caring to carry on down those thoughts. They weren't good memories and were better off left in the past where they belonged.

After the fact, Danica realized she probably shouldn't have been nearly as surprised as she had been to push open her suspiciously ajar bedroom door to find Johnny poking around her belongings. He had his back to her when she entered, fingers flipping through a journal he'd pulled off the shelf above her desk.

"So who was this Carl guy you had such a thing for back in high school?" He asked over his shoulder without missing a beat while she froze and gawked at the sight of him lamely.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" She finally snapped after what seemed like forever, watching him turn the page of the journal and read over the penned down scrawl there.

"Was bored and figured I'd take a walk down memory lane," the blond shrugged as he finally turned around to face her. He held up the old black and white composition book Danica used for a journal, a smirk firmly set on his face, "So who was Carl Sandburg? A football jock you had a crush on or something?"

"He wasn't a football jock, you moron," she snapped. Crossing over to the blond, Danica snatched the book away and pushed him aside to replace it on her bookshelf with the dozen others she had, "And stay out of my things. None of it is any business of yours."

"No? Well then who was he? Did I know him?" Johnny didn't touch the journals again, but he continued to peer over the spines of her books and shift papers on her desk.

She shook her head angrily at him; "I didn't go to school with him. Carl Sandburg was a writer and poet and he died back in the sixties."

Johnny arched a brow at her, "…you had a crush on a dead guy?"

Danica rolled her eyes, "Don't be stupid. I was in love with his work, not him."

"Ooookay…?"

"You know…" Danica seemed hesitant as she watched Johnny frown at her, "like, 'The fog comes in on little cat feet –'." She saw no understanding in the male's eyes, "'It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.'? 'Fog?'" That brow arched high over blue eyes again. "'Explanations of Love'? 'Be Ready'? 'Hope is a Tattered Flag'?"

"Dani, what are you talking about?"

"He wrote a huge biography on Abraham Lincoln and dozens of beautiful poems!" She looked absolutely horrified that Johnny didn't know what she was talking about, "How can you have not even heard of him before?"

"Not a poem guy," Johnny shrugged at her. He moved on and back to her books, pulling out a title at random and turning it over in his hands, "You're really into that stuff?"

"Yes, I'm really into 'that stuff'," she sighed in exasperation and annoyance and took the book away from him. "Now that that has been cleared up, will you please just get out?"

"Aw, come on, Dani," he feigned a whine as she put the book back with its brothers and pulled a fresher looking composition notebook from a drawer in the desk. "Can't we just hang out some for old time's sake?"

"We didn't hang out in those old times," she said curtly. She moved away from the blond and her desk, plopping down comfortably with her notebook and retrieved the pen from her bedside table – planning to get some work and maybe a little creative writing done.

"What are you talking about? We did so hang out," he frowned at her from the foot of her bed. "Remember that time we went to the mall? That was hanging out."

"You left me stranded there," she gave him a look over the top of her notebook. "Remember?"

"That was a miscommunication," he waved it off. "How about the time we checked out the Bronx zoo? That was pretty cool, right?"

"You brought a hooker with us and spent the whole day in the reptile house making out."

"Amber wasn't a hooker and that's a huge exaggeration; we didn't spend the _whole_ day in there." The blond's brow furrowed over as he tried to think of another time he and Danica had spent time together when they were younger, "I took you to see movies -"

"Same situation as the zoo, different location, different hooker," she said blandly as she began filling the lines on her paper. "And none of that counts anyway because Reed and Sue had to beg you to do it."

"They didn't –"

"Just give it a rest, Johnny." She sighed and shifted on her bed, crossing her legs at the ankles, "We weren't friends then and we aren't now. Quite trying to make something out of nothing and just move on with your life." She glanced up at him when he was silent for a long while, noting his frown and matching it with her own, "That was your cue to leave."

"When did you start hating me so much?" He asked and he sounded almost angry with her, "I don't remember you being like this before. What did I do?"

"Nothing, Johnny. You didn't do anything," she shook her head and ignored his gaze. "And that's the point."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Why does it matter so much all of a sudden? You weren't ever interested in hanging out or making friends the last three years, why start now?"

"So? I'm interested now."

"Well, I'm not."

"How come?"

"Because I'm just not," he voice was starting to get tight with irritation again and the scrap of her pen on paper was turning aggressive. "I made an effort the whole time Reed and Sue were together to be your friend and you weren't interested. I don't feel like wasting another three years getting left behind at malls and ignored at zoos."

Johnny laughed a little at that, "That's not –"

"You're missing the point again," she interrupted tartly.

The grin fell off his face and flipped into a scowl, "So then what is your point?"

"My point is that I am not interested in being friends, Johnny." She glanced up at him from her notebook and nodded her head towards the door, "Now will you please leave my room?"

Danica returned to her writing, but Johnny kept looking at her from the foot of her bed. He could feel a bit of a tension headache blooming and the crease in his brow as he frowned wasn't helping. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel at least a little stung by her dismissal, but it was obvious that despite what he said on the matter now she was done with the conversation.

Johnny turned to leave but a photo of a male caught his eye and his frown deepened tenfold, Danica's request all but forgotten. The wooden frame was propped up on the corner of Danica's dresser and the blond stepped over to it to get a closer look at the photo inside. The man in the photograph was undeniably good looking; Johnny would even venture to say the guy was downright hot. Sexy. His brown hair was mused and tussled like was really popular among young men nowadays and his eyes were an icy, white pale blue. His smile was bright and charming and a light brushing of scruff followed the line of his jaw and chin – Danica was standing next to him, smiling, with his arm around her shoulders. Johnny's face twisted oddly as he picked up the photo of the two. "Who's this?" His voice wasn't the least bit pleased.

"I asked you to leave, Johnny."

"Answer the question," he snapped and that caught her attention, thought perhaps not in a good way.

Danica glanced at the blond, irritation at his continued presence and tone growing, and noted the photo he held. "Clayton Parker," she finally answered, evenly.

"Clayton?" Johnny's voice husked and spat the name out, nose scrunching up like it was a foul smell, "What kind of dumb ass name is 'Clayton'?"

She shot him a glare, "It isn't dumb. It's mature, _Johnny_."

"Whatever," he muttered, letting the slight dig at his own name slide for the moment. "So… Clayton Parker?"

"That's what I said."

"Yeah, but who is he?"

"That's none of your business," she grumbled and glared again. "I thought I told you to leave."

"You did. I'm ignoring it," he confessed cheekily, smirking at the look she shot him. He held up the photo and waved it at her insistently, "Who is he?"

"My god you're so annoying…" she growled under her breath, gripping her pen in a tight fist. She set her jaw, brow as tight as her fist, "He's my boyfriend. Will you go away now?"

"Whoa! Wait a minute here…" he thrust a finger against the glass in the photo's frame, poking the man's photographed face. "Boyfriend? Since when?"

"College," she sighed in exasperation. "Two and a half years."

He looked utterly scandalized by this and Danica arched a brow at him uncertainly. "How old is he?"

The scowl was back on Danica's face, "I'm an adult, Johnny. I can date whoever I want."

"How old?" He demanded persistently. His shoulders had squared off and jaw set firmly, looking more upset about the relationship then was probably his right.

"…," she regarded his sudden change in demeanor with a cautious and confused eye. "…He's twenty-five."

"What the hell are you doing dating a guy that much older then you?"

"Johnny…" she almost wanted to chuckle at his flip out; this was absurd. "He's only three years older than me."

"That's too old!" He shouted at her, tossing the photo back onto the dresser hard enough that the glass cracked in the frame.

"He's the same age as you!" She shouted back, reacting to the raised level of his voice in turn.

"Yeah, but you aren't sleeping with me!"

"Who the hell ever said I was sleeping with him?" She shouted incredulously, dark eyes wide and brows knit tight together in anger. "I said he was my boyfriend, not my fuck-buddy!"

"Yeah, well," Johnny faltered momentarily then whipped up an argument while pointing aggressively towards the abandoned photo, "a guy like that is only looking for one thing from a girl like you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"He's using you!"

"Oh yeah, of course," she mocked. "A guy like Clayton who's only looking for a good time is clearly going to commit to a sexless relationship for three years."

"Dump him."

She only stared at him blankly at first, completely dumbfounded by what he'd just said to her. A chuckle bubbled up her throat, voice amused like he'd made a joke, "Excuse me?"

"Dump. Him." The seriousness of Johnny's expression as he reiterated for her was the only thing that kept Danica from laughing out loud at him. Instead her expression twisted down into a disgusted frown.

"What? No." She shook her head at him, "Are you stupid?"

"I'm telling you to dump the guy."

"And I'm telling you no. What makes you think you even have a say in it?"

"Because I can tell he's an asshole!"

"Well you're wrong," she snapped at him with the same disgusted look still plastered to her face. "Clayton's a wonderful man and I'm going to marry him."

Johnny looked shell shocked, "…what?"

Danica shook her head at him again, returning her gaze to her notebook in an attempt to just block he blond out. "I'm not repeating myself…"

"Marry him?" Johnny exclaimed and sounded rather winded by it. "When?"

Danica hesitated then, shrugging slowly, "Eventually."

"When's eventually?"

"Jesus, Johnny!" She snapped at him, "I don't know! Some day!"

He scoffed at her, "How do you even know he wants to marry you?"

"Because he's already asked me to, you jackass!"

He fell silent again, staring at her with jaw slackened just enough to make her frown at him. She wasn't quite sure of how to respond to the way he looked at her – he looked stunned and angry at the edges, confused and upset. It was the upset flair in his blue eyes that caught her most off guard. What the hell did he have to be upset about?

"And… you said yes." It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement; a verbalization of something he considered factual.

"Well…" She hesitated, suddenly shifting uncertainly under his gaze. "Not exactly."

He frowned at her, "What do you mean 'not exactly'? It's a yes or no question!"

"I told him no the last time he asked," she returned his frown.

"The last time…? So he's asked more then once?"

"It's none of your business, Johnny."

He laughed at her and she bristled at the sound, "Jesus, Dani. If the guy has asked more then once and you've turned him down more then once, don't you think maybe there just isn't something quite right with the relationship?"

"There is nothing wrong with my relationship with Clayton," she snapped. "I'm not ready to get married just yet and he understands that!"

"How many times has he asked?"

She stared at him, eyes hot and angry. She shook her head violently, attention turning away from him and purposefully back down to her writing, "I'm not answering that question."

"Because you know something's wrong, right?"

"No, because I don't have to answer to you, Jonathan Storm."

"Has he asked more then twice?" He crossed his arms over his chest while he stared at her.

"Go away, Johnny."

"Tell me how many times he's asked you to marry him and I will." He grinned a bit when she shot him an unconvinced look, "I really will this time."

Danica regarded him a long, slow time, considering her options and the out come of them both. Heaving a sigh, she shifted and let her writing pad fall loosely onto her lap while she looked at him, "…Four times."

"Holy shit!" He exclaimed and ignored her glare, "You turned the guy down four times?"

"…Some what."

"Did you say no all four times or not?"

She held up her left hand and wiggled her bare fingers, "Obviously."

"And you turned him down four times because you aren't ready to get married?"

"Johnny…"

"I'm just saying…" he held his palms up to her and took a step back away from her towards the door. "Maybe you should start wondering if Mr. Clayton Parker is really all that great if you can't find it in you to accept his ring…?" She was silent and he shrugged while he hung in the doorway, looking far too pleased with himself, "Maybe it isn't that you aren't ready to get married and more like you just don't want to marry him."

"Who should I marry then, Johnny?" She snapped at him, frowning deeply at his grinning face.

"How the hell should I know?" He pointed towards the other photo with a less then pleased look to his handsome face, "But it isn't him."

She shook her head at him, brow furrowing and face tight, "You don't even know him."

"I don't need to know him."

"You do realize just how much of an asshole thing that is to say, right?"

He shrugged and pulled the door closed after him, shutting her up inside her room and leaving her alone. He walked away from the door of her bedroom calmly, down the hall to the stairs and down them. He made a b-line down to the lab, knowing without needing to think about it that Reed would be there. And he was. Reed and Sue were both down there, bent over some illustrated plan Reed had spread out on his desk with glasses near falling off their noses and attention caught up by the scientific mumbo-jumbo in a way Johnny had never been able to understand.

"Pop quiz for ya, Reed," Johnny opened with as he came up to the desk his sister and friend occupied. He leaned heavily over the white and blue ink illustration of the latest crazy do-dad Reed was cooking up, obscuring their view without a care.

Reed passed a look to Sue, looking uncertain as he straightened and used the tip of his finger to push his glasses up on his nose in a way that reminded Johnny of the dweebs he used to heckle relentlessly in high school. "…Ok?"

"Clayton Parker."

"…Clayton Parker," Reed repeated slowly and glanced back at Sue as he pursed his lips. The elder man shook his head slowly, eyeing Johnny through the lenses of his glasses, "Not much of a quiz, Johnny. Sounded more like the answer."

Johnny shook his head, lacing his fingers together in front of his face with his weight leveled on his elbows, "No, see, I think Clayton Parker _is_ the question."

"Well, then it's a funny question." Reed chuckled at the younger male, "And I'm not so sure what you're asking me."

"What's this all about, Johnny?" Sue asked her brother, blonde brows furrowing as she looked her brother over oddly.

"What can you tell me about Clayton?" Johnny turned his eyes from his sister to Reed again, smiling at the man.

Reed arched a brow at the youngest Storm sibling, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked amused, "How do you know Mr. Parker?"

"Apparently we have a mutual connection through Dani," he explained. The humor left his face a little, "What can you tell me about him?"

Reed and Sue looked at each other again, knowing smirks and true amusement pulling at their faces. The both laughed a little, Sue brushing her fingers over her mouth as Reed shook his head.

"What?" Johnny frowned, "What's so funny?" Sue just shook her head at her brother and picked up her coffee mug from the desk in front of her, leaving the men, presumably to refill her cup. Johnny lifted off his elbows a bit and looked between his sister and Reed again, demanding, "What?"

"Why are you asking?" Reed asked. He ignored the younger's incredulous questioning and went in for his own.

"It suddenly a crime?" The blond scowled, tone defensive.

Reed just chuckled and shook his head, "No. Not a crime at all."

"So what's dear old Clayton all about?"

The elder man remained silent a moment, looking over Johnny's face and seeming to study the defensive posture he wore across his shoulders and the growing tension around his mouth the longer Reed held out. He let out a snort of a sigh and smiled at the younger man, "Clayton Parker is-"

"Dani's boyfriend," Johnny finished for him, clearly irritated and inpatient. "Got that much already. What else?"

Reed arched a brow, still looking far too amused for Johnny's liking. "He's a musician. He and Dani both work at a nightclub in town called 'Poe's' on weekends. She sings, he plays guitar."

"Pretty little set up?"

"Dani seems to like it."

"What else?"

"What else do you want to know, Johnny?" Reed asked, laughing a little openly now.

"Have you met him?"

"Of course I have," Reed nodded. "He's come here a few times over the years. I've gone out with the two of them from time to time."

"What do you think of him?"

"No complaints." Reed shrugged, "Seems like he's got a good head on his shoulders. He's good to Dani and she's happy around him; can't really ask for more."

Johnny quieted at that for a bit, seeming to study his hands thoughtfully. The younger male lifted his head then, smiling brightly at Reed, "Well, damn! I think maybe I should meet this Clayton character myself then. Know how I can get in touch with him?"

"Maybe…" Reed eyed him suspiciously. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Uuuh…. Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing at all," Johnny assured the elder man.

"Right…" Reed looked over the younger male again. This was all rather amusing when he really thought about it, assessed just what Johnny was doing even if the young man didn't realize he was doing it. It made Reed glance away and up to Sue as the blonde woman came back in with a fresh cup of coffee in her hand; Johnny was acting a lot like he had over Sue when he was younger. Of course, Johnny was a lot less subtle about it then he had been, but it was still the same basic principle. Making a decision then and there, Reed looked back up at the younger male and grinned, nodding his head, "Actually, I think I've got his number laying around here somewhere…"

* * *

I apologize for any and all spelling/grammatical mistakes. PLEASE REVIEW!


	6. Chapter 6

::Special Thanks to all Reviewers and Readers! You guys are the VERY BEST!!!::

sorry this took so long to get out; I'll try to get out chapter 7 asap!

Simple as it Should Be

_Chapter Six_

Tests were taken on Ben, Reed, Sue and Johnny. One at a time, Reed ran everyone, even himself, through intense, meticulous exams – both externally and internally, taking note of every little deviation from the norm no matter how small. Things were learned, like Johnny very well might be able to set the atmosphere on fire if he wasn't careful, and new questions arose – specifically the question of whether or not their mutations, and especially Ben's, could be reversed.

"…none of us are experiencing any real harm due to the alteration to our DNA. Nothing is posing a threat at, not even Johnny's elevated core temperature. We're all fit and healthy, within the mutation and outside of it." Reed was explaining, his voice exasperated and expression tired. He rubbed a hand of his brow, frustrated and at a complete loss. "It doesn't make sense, but at the same time I can't find any fault in it."

"It's fine, Reed." Sue tired to placate the man as Danica came down the stairs to the lab, "Everything has an explanation. It'll come in time."

"I hope so," Reed sighed, dark eyes on his niece as she came over to them. Danica was shaking out her hand and scowling, looking mildly annoyed, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Just some static shock from the stair's railing…" she shook her hand out a final time, letting the limb drop to her side. Glancing over to the side, Danica arched a brow at the sight of Johnny crouching down by what looked to have once been her uncle's titanium containment chamber. She pointed over to the blond and the mess of extinguishing foam that covered him and the melted chamber. "What happened down here?"

"Johnny thought trying to go supernova would be a good idea," Sue answered. Her voice had both an annoyed and amused edge to it as she, Danica and Reed watched Johnny try to clean up the mess. "The heat from his flames rose to about 4000 Kelvin and we had to extinguish him."

"Bunch of up-tight buzz-kills," Johnny muttered from across the room.

"We already explained this to you, Johnny." Sue sighed in exasperation, "You were the same temperature as the sun."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Could kill myself or might set the Earth's atmosphere on fire and destroy all human life as we know it." Johnny parroted at his sister, rolling his eyes, "Not stupid, Sue. I understood the first time – campfire good, supernova bad."

"Just clean up your mess, Smokey," Danica smirked at the blond and turned back to her uncle. Johnny scowled and flicked foam at her, but Danica ignored it. "So? You wanted to see me?"

"Ah… yes." Reed nodded and shuffled through some stuff on his desk, brow jumping ad furrowing as he collected his thoughts. "Ben said you mentioned still feeling weird. He said it seemed to be in connection to what happened on the shuttle?"

"Sort of. I don't really know…" she shrugged, shifting under Reed and Sue's gazes. She frowned inwardly, "I just feel off. Kind of unbalanced."

Reed then began his testing anew, this time focusing on his niece. After an hour spent checking sight, hearing, reflexes, blood pressure, and a million other little things Danica never would have even thought to check, Reed sat back and frowned between Danica and Sue. He shook his head, "Nothing. Other then a slightly elevated heart rate, there's absolutely nothing out of the ordinary."

"But that could be something, couldn't it?" Sue suggested, referring back to that elevated heart rate.

"Maybe. Or it could be completely unrelated," Reed shrugged. "You and I both had high blood pressure. The rate could be stress related, like us. It's hard to say for sure…" Reed looked back at his niece, chewing thoughtfully at the inside of his cheek. "And you haven't been experiencing any... symptoms similar to the rest of us?"

"No." Danica shook her head.

"None at all?"

"Nothing."

"No waning visibility, elevated body temperature, sudden unnatural flexibility…?"

Danica chuckled, "No. Nothing. And before you ask, no. I'm not turning into a rock, either." She shrugged, "I just feel… off."

"Well, maybe that's just it. Maybe the cloud just unbalanced your system," Reed suggested – at the end of his line. "Maybe it never touched your DNA like the rest of us."

"Maybe you should run some blood work though," Sue murmured from one side. She shrugged when Reed looked at her, "Can't hurt to give it a look. Just to be sure."

"Yeah. You're right," Reed nodded. He stood and began to collect what he needed to take a sample of his niece's blood. "I'd rather be completely sure anyway."

Danica nodded understandingly, holding out her arm as her uncle snapped on some sanitary gloves, twisted an off-white tourniquet strap around her upper arm and swabbed the inside of her elbow. She turned her head away once the needle came into view, taking and letting out a long breath as she waited for the warm pinch.

"Afraid of needles?" Johnny asked with a smirk. He was wiping off his hands on a rag, approaching the group now that he'd finished his cleaning task.

"I'm not afraid of them," Danica fixed a light scowl on his mocking face. "I just don't like them."

"Chicken. It doesn't even hurt, does it?"

"It's not about it hurting."

"What's it about then?"

Danica's mouth pressed closed as she stared at the blond, eventually turning her eyes from the sight of him too. She held still and silent as Reed finished up and slowly extracted the needle from her arm. When the tourniquet was removed, she bent her elbow up and waited for the bandage she knew Reed would be giving her.

"Oh come on…" Johnny rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning his weight to one hip. "Just tell me. I promise I won't make fun of you… much."

Danica didn't say anything. She didn't even look at Johnny as her uncle covered the small needle wound with a neon blue band-aide. "Finished?"

"For now," Reed nodded. "I'll let you know if I find anything…"

Danica gave a curt nod and turned away as Reed cleaned up and studied the small vial of blood like he could figure out what it might tell him just by staring. She left the lab without speaking another word to Johnny, taking the steel stairs two at a time up to the household levels of the 5 story apartment.

"Hey! Dani!" Johnny called after her, "Don't run away! Come on, just tell me!"

"Johnny." Sue snapped at her brother, giving him a warning look, "Just drop it."

"What? Why?" He frowned at his sister.

"Just leave it alone, Johnny. It's none of your business anyway."

"She got a phobia or something?"

"It's a bit more complicated then that, I'm afraid," Reed sighed off to the side. He glanced at Johnny with a light shrug, head tilted to one side as he prepared to run tests on Danica's blood sample.

"Did a booster shot go horribly, horribly wrong?" He made a face. The joking just made Sue 's frown deepen, mouth poised and ready to tell her brother off for the insensitivity, but Reed kept calm and easy about it.

"Dani didn't come to me under the best of circumstances." Reed reminded Johnny in a careful tone, "You know that."

"Yeah. I know." Johnny nodded, brows tweaked as he shifted a little uncomfortably.

He was well aware of the details as to why Danica had come to live with Reed – Sue had caved and told him about it years ago. Her father had shot and killed her mother, than an hour later he'd turned the gun on himself when she was only nine-years-old. She'd been in the room for both. So yeah, Johnny sure did know that things hadn't been so great for Dani before she was brought into Reed's care. "What's that got to do with needles, though?"

"Johnny," Sue began, but Reed waved her disapproval off.

"My brother… Chris stumbled into a bit of a bad crowd the year before he died," Reed sighed as he elaborated tentatively for the other man. He shifted uncomfortably as he spoke, dark eyes jumping nervously across his desk. "I had my suspicions, but I didn't know for sure until after his and Elizabeth's deaths. He'd been abusing heroin."

Realization dawned on Johnny like a ton of bricks falling on top of him. His eyes shot wide and his arms fell from his chest to hang limp at his sides, "And… Dani saw?"

Sharing a short glance with Sue, Reed nodded. "She didn't say much about it and still won't now, but yes. She saw quite a bit." He sighed, "Coroner's report confirmed that Chris was high when he shot Elizabeth and was probably coming down when he killed himself. Guilt, most likely."

"Shit…" Johnny rubbed a hand over his mouth and looked over to the stairs Danica had disappeared up.

Seeing Johnny's look, Sue shook her head and took a step towards him. "You aren't supposed to know, Johnny. Don't go and do anything stupid."

Reed nodded in agreement, "It's… most definitely for the best that you don't mention any of this to Dani."

Johnny shook his head, expression tense like a guilty child. "No, no… 'course I won't." His hand wandered up to rub over his short hair, wincing and eyes jumping between his sister and friend. "You think she's alright though? I mean, I didn't know, man. I'd have shut up if I'd know…"

"She'll be fine." Reed assured the other man, corner of his mouth lifting at the blond's sudden concern, "She's come a long way since she was nine, but she still runs off like that every time she sees a needle. It wasn't because of you."

"Serious?" Johnny waited for Reed to nod before he let out a low breath. He nodded back; all of his previous swagger forgotten in the face of the information he'd been given. "Good."

"Go take a shower and get it off your mind," Sue suggested. She remembered the fog she'd been in after Reed told her years ago; she knew what dwelling on Danica's past could do if you let it. Her lips quirked the longer she looked at her brother, "Make sure you get your face."

Johnny frowned, "My face?"

Nodding, Sue stepped up to her brother and swiped her finger against his forehead. The digit came back with a smear of extinguishing foam and she presented it to Johnny with a grin and chuckle.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"How're you holding up?"

Reed glanced up over the rim of his glasses as Sue came in and to his desk. Her blonde hair was damp and free around her face; she'd just come from the shower, he guessed. She had two mugs in her hands. Coffee, by the smell of it.

"So, so, I guess." He thanked her as she handed over a mug to him, pausing a second to inhale the warmth and hazelnut smell of the coffee before sipping carefully. "I've got tests running on everyone's blood samples… should get some results in a few days. I'm hoping I won't, but I, uh… I might need another vial from Danica."

Sue winced slightly, "Maybe you should wait. Know for sure that you need it before you take it… and especially not so soon." She reasoned as she sipped her coffee, "It's too soon to be taking more."

Reed nodded, "Yeah. I know. She's just got me totally baffled…" he used his hands as he explained, "She was right there with me on the station, directly next to Johnny. I don't understand how it could have possibly washed over her with zero affect when it's done so much to the rest of us."

"Everyone's body responds differently to things," Sue reasoned with a shrug. "Maybe hers was somehow immune and we just don't know about it."

"Possible," Reed nodded again. He squinted his eyes, rubbing a hand against his temple, "It's just got me worried."

"Reed…"

"What if something [is] happening to her? What of the cloud [did] affect her and we're all just over looking it?" His shoulders tensed and his hands moved jerkily, "What if she gets hurt? Sustains permanent damage? I already screwed up once by not paying enough attention and acting too late…"

"Reed," Sue grabbed the man's shoulder with her free hand. She shook her damp, blonde head, "What happened was not your fault. Danica has never blamed you and she never will, because it was not. Your. Fault."

"I knew something was off with Chris. I knew something was wrong."

"You didn't know for sure. You and he barely spoke by then. Elizabeth was the only one that could have known, and she never said anything to anyone. Nobody knew."

"I suspected," Reed insisted, striking the surface of his desk with his palm. "I had suspicions that turned out to be true and I never said anything. I never did anything. And I should have; I knew I should have, but I didn't. And look what happened!"

"Your brother made bad choices. He did that all on his own. You were only 19 when it started and just 20 when it ended – your brother was a grown man, and if his own wife couldn't stop him I highly doubt his kid brother would have." She gave a small smile, "Even if that kid brother is a scientific genius."

He cracked a small smile in return, but it didn't last.

"And you were in the middle of earning not 1, but 2 PhDs. Reed, you hardly had enough time to breath, let alone worry about your brother's possible drug addiction." Sue shook her head.

"He was my brother. I should have done more – I should have made the time."

"You can't live in regret, Reed." She shrugged, "Yes, maybe you could have changed things for Chris. Maybe. But you're smart enough to know that it's very unlikely that you could have done it all on your own. You're smart enough to know that unless he wanted to change, he wasn't going to."

"I could have kept Danica and Elizabeth away from him. Nobody had to get hurt."

"You were at Harvard, Reed!" Sue exclaimed softly, frown puckering between her eyes. "You were in a completely other state!"

"I should have done more, Sue." Reed stressed despite the woman's insistence, "I should have done more; at least for Dani, if for no one else. She was only nine. Nobody, especially a child, should ever have to witness what she did."

"You took her in when nobody expected you to. Nobody even asked you to. You were only 20 and you volunteered to raise your severely traumatized, nine-year-old niece." She squeezed his shoulder, "You couldn't have done anything for her parents, but you went above and beyond when it really counted, Reed. You gave up Harvard, put all your work and studies on hold... You were the one that saved her, when she needed saving the most." Sue smiled when he looked up at her, "You raised a beautiful, intelligent young woman. And she loves you so much; you know it'd break her heart if she knew you were thinking so poorly of yourself."

Reed stared up at Sue through the glass of his spectacles, a sheepish smile slowly working over his previously downtrodden expression. He still had his self-doubts and doubted he'd ever move past the guilt he'd live with now for 12 years… but he wasn't about to argue with Sue over whether or not his niece loved him. He knew she did; he'd never try to dispute that. Instead, he nodded, and that earned him one of the woman's truly beautiful smiles – something more valuable then any gold or treasure anyone could come up with for Reed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Three days later, every test Reed could think to run Danica's blood through came up with nothing. He studied it, mentally tore it to pieces looking for even the slightest discrepancy from the norm, but he found nothing. There was nothing wrong, nothing odd. And still, Danica herself had nothing to report as far as possible "fantastic" symptoms. It had Reed scratching his head; worry lines etching deep in his forehead despite Danica's insistence that she felt totally fine.

The morning of the fourth day after they're return to the Baxter, Reed, Danica, and Johnny were in the kitchen…

"Ow! Shit!"

Johnny snorted around the spoonful of milk and cheerios he was chomping like a cow through at the kitchen counter.

"Damn it, Johnny! That hurt, you son of a bitch!"

"Dani," Reed gave the young woman a disapproving look from the kitchen table. "Language."

"Tell him to stop and I will!" She snapped, lashing out to smack the blond across the back of his head. He blocked it, spoon hanging from his grinning mouth; he met her glare with laughing blue eyes. "Cut it out!"

"I dun nnoh wah yur taahkin' 'bowt," Johnny just kept laughing, words slurring around his spoon. A dribble of milk cut a line down one side of his chin from his mouth – it might have been cute, if Danica wasn't pissed.

"Yes you do! You did it on purpose!" She yanked the spoon from his mouth and plopped it into his cereal bowl. Milk sloshed out onto the table.

"All I did was give you a friendly pat on the arm," he snickered as he mopped up the milk on his chin with the back of his hand. "Not my fault it shocked you."

"You did it on purpose!"

"How'd I do it on purpose?"

"I don't know, you just did!"

"I sprout fire, not bolts of static electricity."

"I don't care! Just stop touching me!"

"Stop dragging your feet on the carpet and maybe you won't build up so much static."

"I don't drag my feet!"

"Well, clearly you do."

"Just don't touch me!"

"Fine," he chuckled as he scooped up more cheerio's to his mouth. He pointed at her with his spoon after, "Ooh gahah a'mit doh," he paused to swallow, "you have been holding a lot of static lately."

"No," she shook her head at him like he was an uneducated idiot. "The last three times have been because of you touching me. You're holding the static and shocking me with it. Stop touching me!" She smacked at his hand as it reached out to her. She jumped at the slight shock that resulted, "Ow! Stop it!"

Johnny just laughed.

"It's way too early for all this noise," Ben grumbled as he hunkered his way into the kitchen. "What's goin' on?"

"Hey, Reed, you got any balloons around here? I wanna rub one on Dani's head," Johnny asked, ignoring Ben's question as he scrubbed a hand against the top of Danica's head.

"I'm going to break your fingers!" The girl squawked angrily and fought out from under Johnny's hand.

Ben looked between the quarreling pair and Reed, who just hunched over the notes and read outs he was studying further. He watched Danica kick out at Johnny, catching the blond in the shin and sending him grabbing at the abused limb and yelping loudly.

"What the hell?" Johnny demanded as he clutched his shin, leaning heavily on the kitchen counter.

"I'm late to meet Clayton and rehearsal and now you've messed up my hair," she snapped at him as she moved further into the kitchen. She ran a hand through her short brown locks, fussing it back into a neat set on her head while plucking an apple from the fruit bowl with the other. "And I told you to stop touching me. Next time you don't listen I'll aim higher," she gave Johnny a sharp, serious look.

"Clayton?" Johnny made a face, which Danica completely ignored.

She hurried around to the kitchen table, pressing a kiss to her uncle's temple. "See you later, uncle Reed." She went to Ben next, kissing his rough, stone cheek and nodded towards her note-immersed uncle, "Don't let him go at that all morning."

"You got it, sweetie," Ben smiled.

"What? No kiss for me?" Johnny whined from the counter, recovered from the kick already.

"You just be happy I let you keep your leg, you ass," Danica scowled at him as she headed for the elevator down the hall.

"Language…" Reed mumbled as he scribbled something out into the corner of the sheet he was poring over.

* * *

REVIEW PLEASE!


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